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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22411576">Loki's Daughter</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/traveling_classicist/pseuds/traveling_classicist'>traveling_classicist</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Loki - Fandom, Loki Series (Disney+), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies), Tumblr: imagine-loki - Fandom</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Additional Trigger Warnings: Child Slavery, Additional Trigger Warnings: Mental illness including schizophrenia depression and anxiety, Additional Trigger Warnings: Mentions of past torture and abuse, Gen, Other</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 14:21:56</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>69,748</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22411576</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/traveling_classicist/pseuds/traveling_classicist</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Inspired by an imagine I posted on the Tumblr page: imagine-loki.</p><p>Imagine Avengers: Endgame AU Loki that gets away with tesseract has been using it to explore the universe. During his adventures, he comes across a little girl with developing but oppressed magical abilities. Intrigued (and subconsciously lonely) Loki keeps her around. </p><p>In his efforts to learn more about the tesseract and keep it away from prying hands, Loki keeps in constant movement; never staying in one place for too long. So, they travel to new worlds far beyond the Nine Realms. The young girl is in awe at the beauty of the universe and thrives with Loki. Through a series of events, the two grow closer and Loki begins to feel what he would assume is affection for the little girl.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Other: Father/Daughter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>52</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>73</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Saved</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Trigger warnings one last time (they apply to the whole fic):<br/>-Child slavery (this topic is being explored throughout the story)<br/>Nota bene: I promise I’m not making Loki enslave any children, that’s not our guy<br/>-Mental illness including mentions of schizophrenia, depression, and anxiety<br/>-Mentions of past torture and abuse: physical, emotional, and mental</p><p>I know these are strong triggers for some people and I fully respect you. There will also be lots of fluff and love and happiness in this story as well, but these more difficult and triggering topics are being explored throughout its entirety.</p><p>With the hype for the Loki series starting to build, I’m feeling inspired. So, I’m going to give it a go and show you all my take on what Loki would be doing with the tesseract after he gets away with it in Endgame.</p><p>There is a tumblr page set up specifically for this fic at lokis-daughter-fic.tumblr.com, if you have a hankering to follow it. I'll post links to the fic there but also maybe open up discussion if it gains any popularity with anyone. I will also be posting it at imagine-loki.tumblr.com as that's where it was originated.</p><p>I think that is all.</p><p>Enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Loki walked through the giant forest. These were some of the tallest trees he had ever seen, reaching hundreds of feet into the sky. The canopy seemed distant, but its thick leaves blocked out most of the sunlight to the ground. Occasionally, he would hear some creature calling out in the branches high above him. The canopy dampened the sound all around, making the animal calls sound further off than they truly were.</p><p>            He stopped, now and then, to admire the massive trunks of the reddish-brown trees. Some of them would likely take a whole minute to walk around. Their roots, as thick as normal sized trees, dug deep beneath him. He wondered how deep they would have to go to hold up such large trees. He thought the planet’s crust must be made up of hundreds of thousands of miles of tree roots.</p><p>A light breeze made its way through the forest, shaking the leaves on the branches of the trees. Loki imagined you could cover an entire Asgardian skiff with one leaf. He imagined what would happen if one fell on him, and quickly continued walking. Indeed, the forest floor was littered with gigantic leaves and debris from the canopy world above. He thought this is what an ant must feel like, so small in a world far too big.</p><p>            Wanting a better vantage point, he used the tesseract’s energy to transport himself to a branch high above. He materialized on the branch but quickly dropped to his knees. Up here, he could feel the tree gently swaying. But a gentle sway to behemoth tree was a dizzying ride to a tiny ant. He sat there a moment, trying to acclimate himself to the new altitude and his tree legs. Before long, he shook his head in disbelief at his dizziness and stood. Feeling slightly more stable, he walked out on the branch, testing his fate. He blinked lazily.</p><p>            “Not so bad,” he mused. Afterall, even if he did fall, he could simply use the tesseract’s energy to teleport himself safely to the ground or wherever he wanted. In fact, the thought made him wonder what more he could do with this energy here.</p><p>He took off in a fast sprint down the branch at full speed. As the branch began to thin, he leapt with all his strength into the air. In a flash of blue, he disappeared, reappearing again mid-air but hundreds of feet in front of where he had been, landing gracefully on the branch of the next tree over. He laughed, looking back at the tree he had just leapt from. Amused by his maneuver, he took out the tesseract from his pocket and flipped the cube in his hand.</p><p>            “Not bad at all,” he said. “I think I’ll use that.”</p><p>            Suddenly, the tree shook violently. Loki lost his balance and fell. The tesseract took two light bounces on the branch before falling towards the ground far, far below.</p><p>“Ah!” Loki screamed and leapt of the branch after it in an instant.</p><p>The wind whipped through his hair and made his eyes water, the ground flying up at him. Through the tears, he nearly lost the little blue spec of the cube falling below him. He reached out and caught it, instantly teleporting himself at a far safer speed to the ground. He fell only a foot onto the forest floor and let out a tremendous sigh of relief. He held up the glowing cube in front of his face.</p><p>            “We are not doing that again,” he panted.</p><p>Suddenly, a horrendous howl wrenched him up from his place on the ground. A massive beast roared at him from the trunk of the tree. It was hunched over, putting its weight onto its knuckles. Sharp claws as long as Loki’s leg, curled upwards from its paws. Its back was covered in a light brown fur cast with gray stripes while its belly lay bare, a dark shade of brown. The head of the beast was encased in a thick, brown armor, reminiscent of a horn but the shape of a battering ram that protruded from its skull.</p><p>Loki made a quick glance up at the tree and let out a sharp breath. There was a massive divot in the tree’s trunk. Splinters hung all about the outsides of the hollow dent. Dark sap had begun to ooze from the center of the wound.</p><p>            “Oh,” Loki whispered, letting out an exasperated laugh at the creature. “So, you caused the treequake, then?”</p><p>            The monster roared in response and lunged for him. Loki scrambled to his feet, tesseract in hand, dirt and debris flying up from the ground as he regained himself. He tore off, away from the beast as fast as he could. Still out of breath from the fall, his head felt like it was spinning. He could hear the creature pounding towards him. It was massive, there was no way he could outrun it.</p><p>            He looked up quickly and saw he was fast approaching a massive tree root that stood nearly twenty feet above his head. He groaned and made a sharp turn, following the root’s path. The beast behind him slammed into the tree root. The noise sounded like an explosion, echoing through the forest. The beast quickly regained itself, shaking its head for a moment, before charging towards Loki again. Frantic as he ran, Loki looked for a way out. The light glinted off the cube still in his hand and if he wasn’t running for his life, he would have smacked himself.</p><p>“What am I doing?” he exclaimed.</p><p>            In front of him, he spotted a large arch formed by another tree root dipping back into the ground. He lengthened his stride. He could practically feel the beast’s breath on his back. Using the tesseract’s energy, he teleported through the arch and safely on to the other side.</p><p>            The beast lowered its head and slammed into the archway at full tilt. The ground shook under Loki’s feet as another thunderous explosion rang out around the forest. Only the head and shoulders of the beast had made it through the other side of the archway. It tried to stand up again but was firmly stuck between the root and the ground. Loki laughed, surprised but relieved that it had worked.</p><p>            “I’m just going to leave you there,” he said. The creature’s nostrils flared, and it let out another deafening roar. Loki winced at the sound. “Yes, you’re very loud,” he told it. “I’m sure that will help you out of there. Just keep trying,” he mocked it as he teleported a distance away.</p><p>            Leaving the monster safely behind him, he looked down at the tesseract again. He liked the way it shimmered in his hand. He quickly made it disappear again into his pocket before anything else bad happened to him or it.</p><p>He looked up at the trees again and thought of what he had been trying before he was rudely interrupted by the beast. He summoned the tesseract’s energy and leapt far up onto the side of a tree. He caught himself with his dagger, digging it in deep into the bark. After steadying himself a moment, he located another tree about a hundred yards off. He focused on it and pushed off the tree he hung from, disappearing a moment before reappearing a few feet beside the other tree, midair. He dug his dagger in hard on the bark and slid a few feet down. Amused by this game, he continued jumping between the trees using the energy of the space stone.</p><p>As he played this fun game, he thought he heard a sound in the distance. He stopped, clinging onto the side of one of the trees. He found a good foothold and listened, trying to locate the direction of the sound. He truly hoped that thing from before could not track him.</p><p>A child’s scream rang out to Loki’s left. He sighed in relief at the sound. At least it wasn’t the monster. Slightly intrigued and growing bored and tired of his game, he teleported in the direction of the screams. Where before, the ground and large trunks of the trees had dampened the noise within the forest, now he could hear the child’s screaming echoing for what sounded like miles.</p><p>The ground beneath his feet gave way from dirt, moss, and decaying giant leaves, to compact clay and stone. He pushed aside the fronds of a large bush and stepped out into a clearing. Or at least, what he thought was a clearing. Upon further examination, the sudden lack of trees was caused by a large, rocky ravine. He looked one way down the gorge and then the other. It seemed to stretch for miles in both directions. On the other side, the trees started up once more, rising high into the sky. Another scream rang out. It sounded like it was coming from inside the ravine at the far end to his left.</p><p>Loki followed the sound of the screams along the edge of the gorge. Occasionally, he would lean out over the edge to peer down to the bottom. Vines covered in thick moss had somehow found their way to good grips on the other side of the gorge. They crisscrossed up and down the ravine. The bottom was quite dark. It probably rarely saw any sunlight what with the canopy still covering most of the sky above. At some places, the ravine narrowed to a length Loki could easily jump across if he wanted. At others, the cliff faces pulled away from each other leaving close a hundred meters between them.</p><p>As he walked, he began to feel a slight vibration in his own aura. He stopped in his tracks. There was another magical being nearby. A rather powerful magical being by the shimmering sensation he felt in his aura.</p><p>He had become adept in sensing the magic of others. Frigga had taught him to develop these senses until they were highly acute. He stood for a moment, focusing on this sensation. The vibration was quickly followed by a severe disturbance, like static electricity. He shook his head, alarmed by the feeling. He had never felt anything in his aura like this before.</p><p>He started off again, his interest piqued. He was getting closer to the screams, now. He was also approaching what he assumed was the end of the gorge from the wall of trees looming before him. He returned to the underbrush and crouched low. Two more voices sounded down the ravine. Loki could not make out what they were saying but he could tell there were at least two men and a child at the end of the ravine. He crept closer, silently making his way through the brush, when he spotted a rather peculiar scene.</p><p>Two men stood either side of a small crane-like mechanism hanging out over the edge of the ravine. A long chain swung down out of Loki’s view. A child screamed from below the ledge. They had built a rough camp with debris from the forest floor. A small cart held a few crates and barrels. A ramshackle shelter was propped up with a large bit of bark from one of the giant trees. An extinguished firepit with an old spit lay a few feet away.</p><p>One man braced himself on the crane and kicked the chain with his boot, making it swing. “Scream louder, girly,” he shouted down. “I don’t think they can hear you!”</p><p>In his hand, the man held aloft a long necked, primitive-looking gun. He and his companion laughed as the chain swayed back and forth and even louder screams rang up from below. Loki was about to stand when he heard a far more chilling sound. Somewhere at the bottom of the gorge, a guttural roar rose up and then another. Two creatures. Loki lowered himself back down. They weren’t the monster from before, but they surely sounded monstrous.</p><p>            “Ha!” the other man exclaimed. “Keep doing that, girl. They like it when you wriggle around like that.”</p><p>            “Here they come,” the first man said.</p><p>            His friend picked up his gun which had been leaning up against the crane. They aimed over the side of the cliff. The girl was still screaming from the end of the chain. The two men took their time to find the right sight down to their prey.</p><p>Two loud bangs echoed down through the ravine along with the terrified shriek of the girl below. The two men looked down the gorge, following the echo that seemed to go on for miles. The whole forest seemed to have fallen silent. The pair looked back at each other and high fived.</p><p>            “Oh, that was a good one!” the man said, appearing to rejoice in the disruption they’d caused to the balance.</p><p>            They both looked down over the edge again.</p><p>            “Did you get hit, girly?” one asked.</p><p>            Silence but the girl must have made some sort of indication as the man quickly followed up with a grunt: “Good.”</p><p>            The other man took hold of a large push crank on the crane and began to turn it, hoisting up the chain. A small girl, no more than five, appeared above the ledge, wrapped in tight chains. The man grabbed the chain and pulled it in. It still extended below, and, from the tension, Loki could see there was still something heavy at the bottom. He unhooked the girl from the larger chain, and she fell onto the ground in heap, her restraints clanging against each other. Her chest was heaving with effort. Her legs and feet kicked, treading ground and pushing her a bit further from the ledge. She came to rest at the base of the crane but went no further. Her body trembled and she cried quietly.</p><p>            The man continued to crank the chain upwards. Loki could then see their haul. In a massive net made of metal, two large beasts lay tangled up with one another. The two men heaved against the crane, turning it to pull the net over the ledge. One kicked the crank and the net fell onto the ground, splaying open. They separated the two creatures; large cat-like animals with deadly looking fangs and claws.</p><p>            Loki chose this moment to emerge from the undergrowth. "What an ingenious set up you've got here," Loki said, startling the men from their work.</p><p>“What in the hells? Where’d you come from?” the one man asked, whipping around.</p><p>"They like live bait, do they?" Loki gestured towards the girl, ignoring the man’s question.</p><p>The men laughed, happy to oblige the stranger’s requests if it meant harassing the girl more.</p><p>"Little girl's their favorite thing to eat!" the other said, kicking the scared child in the stomach. She coughed and slumped over again, sobbing.</p><p>"You'll have to excuse my ignorance - I'm not from around here – but what are these creatures?" Loki continued, pointing at the two beasts they’d killed.</p><p>"You ain't never seen kapka before?” the first man exclaimed.</p><p>“Oh, they're vicious beasts, aren’t they?” the other began. He turned towards the little girl, nudging her with the barrel of his weapon, teasing her. “They move like giant cats but got the scales of dragons! See them claws, they can rip you to shreds in seconds. But that's not how they like to kill.”</p><p>"No?" Loki asked, sensing this was the response he wanted.</p><p>"Nah. They’re evil bastards, they are. Instead, they'll tear you down and sink those big ol’ fangs into ya! That way, they inject their toxic poison--"</p><p>"Venom..." Loki corrected him.</p><p>"What?"</p><p>"Nothing. Please, continue."</p><p>The man’s eyes narrowed on the stranger, but he went on, "They inject their - venom - into ya and that paralyzes your whole body. You'd think they'd kill ya then, right?"</p><p>"I assume the answer’s no?"</p><p>"Wrong! What, wait. No! Right! They don’t eat you right away! Instead they tear off bits and pieces of you. Not enough to bleed you out and kill you but enough to feel all that pain. ‘Cause on top of that para-lie-sis--"</p><p>"Paralysis..." Loki corrected him, again.</p><p>"What?"</p><p>"Nothing. Please, do go on."</p><p>"On top of that - paralysis, that venom makes your bleeding stop quick too,” the man continued.</p><p>"Really? How interesting."</p><p>"It’s the worst way to die in all the worlds. Perfect for this little shit right here, that’s for sure!" the other man said, giving the girl another sharp kick, that sent her onto her back.</p><p>"I'd treat your bait better if you want it to stay alive,” Loki said.</p><p>"What? Her? She was made for this, weren't ya?" the man said, grabbing her chain and yanking on it. The little girl nodded frantically, willing to answer any question that would make him stop.</p><p>"Oh, so she's your daughter, then?" Loki asked.</p><p>"Hells no! She's a slave, you moron."</p><p>"Is that right?"</p><p>"It's plain easy to get them,” the other interjected.</p><p>"Hmm. And so, what is it that you do with these creatures? Certainly not eat them?” Loki continued.</p><p>"Hells no! You can't eat them. They'd be all tough and chewy anyways, not to mention the - venom."</p><p>"No instead, we sell them for their - venom. You make good darts from it," the other continued.</p><p>"The blood's valuable too. The best makers can turn it into powerful healing potions!"</p><p>"Extraordinary,” Loki mused.</p><p>"You can practically use the whole beast! Those scales can make good armors--"</p><p>"And them fangs make deadly daggers,” the first man said.</p><p>"Oh, I'm very interested. Please, go on."</p><p>"The claws can be useful too. They'll cut through just about anything, but they can be crushed up into a powder also to cure all kinds of illments."</p><p>"Ailments. Or illnesses. One or the other." Loki corrected him once more.</p><p>"Well, you are a learned one, aren't you,” the man said, now annoyed with the stranger’s quips. “Where you say you were from, again?”</p><p>"I didn't. Oh, but look, I think more of your prey is arriving,” Loki said, pointing to the far end of the rocky ravine.</p><p>Three more scaly kapka were stalking down the ravine, drawn either by the scent of their fallen brethren or the now silenced screams of the girl.</p><p>"Ha! Time to get back to work, you!" the man shouted at the girl.</p><p>He grabbed her and quickly hooked her back on to the line. They both heaved the net over the edge. The metal rods seemed to snap together, straightening out to help the net fall flat onto the rocks below. The chain was quickly flying over the ledge. The girl gasped and hopped about on the spot.</p><p>“You know it’s easier if you jump,” one man said to her, amused. She shook her head, madly, not wanting to jump. Before the chain could rip her off the edge, the man gave her a hard kick, square in the chest. She screamed. Her fall was cut harshly short about a quarter of the way down the cliff face. Her head snapped painfully downwards at the sharp stop as the chain came taught.</p><p>It was wrapped tightly several times around her middle, trapping her arms to her sides. The strong hook attached to the chains at her back kept her face down towards the raging monsters. She screamed in terror.</p><p>Upon seeing the bait, the kapka charged down the ravine. Their claws made deep cuts in the dirt beneath their paws. They stopped abruptly; necks craned upwards to see their dangling prey. Guttural roars and growls rose up from the bottom of the cliff face. The girl cried out and kicked, swinging back and forth on her chain.</p><p>The movement clearly enticed the kapka even more as they began to leap up at her, swiping with their giant paws at her kicking legs. One leapt up the rock wall with powerful hind legs. It pushed off a small ledge and leapt, swinging its paw towards her. It came dangerously close to hitting her but fell just short, landing gracefully on its feet back at the bottom. The others were clawing at the wall, hungrily trying to find traction.</p><p>The girl’s arms were stuck tight to her sides from the chains, but she still pulled and tugged at the restraints. Loki watched her movements, closely. He thought for a moment, he caught a quick flash of light from her hands as she struggled. She shrieked as if she had been caught by one of the beasts, but none had touched her. He felt another strong disturbance in his aura, like electricity, nearly to the point of physical pain. Something strange was going on with this girl.</p><p>"Oh, you're in luck, then, stranger, you'll get to see the show,” they laughed.</p><p>"I can't wait," Loki said coolly, stepping forward. The hunters leaned over the edge to get a better line of sight at their prey. Loki took another step forward, firmly placing both hands on the backs of the men and shoved hard. The two men hurtled over the edge into the ravine, falling past the screaming girl, and into the awaiting jaws of the kapka.</p><p>            The girl turned her head back up towards the ledge, straining to see what had happened and why her former masters were now being paralyzed for dinner down below. The stranger peered over the edge at her and slowly began hoisting her up by the chain. She no longer struggled nor screamed but her chest heaved at the thought of what he might do to her now.</p><p>            Once she was back at the level of the ledge, Loki turned the crane-like mechanism around and lowered her onto the ground. She was breathing hard, soft whimpers escaping her lips. She had a thick, metal collar around her neck and shackles on her wrists and ankles. Judging from the thick bands of scars beneath the manacles, she had probably had them on for a very long time.</p><p>Loki turned back to look over the edge again. The kapka tore into the men with their massive fangs. Loki watched as the venom worked its way through them. Their screams slowly stopped as their bodies went limp, but their eyes still twitched about in horror.</p><p>The first kapka struck, tearing an arm off one of the men and swallowing it whole. The next kapka ripped off a leg and in two big gulps, it was gone. The third tore away another leg and swung it about wildly, beating it on the ground before lazily turning onto its side and eating the leg whole.</p><p>"Well, that's not at all what I was expecting." Loki said, looking down at the horrified little girl. "I thought they'd at least torture them a little longer. What was all that about bits and pieces? He just tore off his whole leg!"</p><p>The girl whimpered at the stranger’s feet horrified at the scene below them. She turned her head away, not wanting to watch anymore.</p><p>Loki marveled at the sheer lack of blood the scene produced. Perhaps these morons knew a bit of what they were talking about after all. He watched for a moment longer before turning to the dead kapka behind him. He stooped, conjuring several jars and vials from his pocket in a smooth motion with his hands, and began extracting venom and blood from the creatures.</p><p>The girl watched him. Could he be a maker? What awful things was he going to do with that venom? She struggled, trying to free herself before the scary man could push her over the edge too.</p><p>Loki carefully filled each vial and jar before cutting away eight large fangs from the jaws of just one kapka. He was sure to take all the claws as well. He thought a few specimens of the scales would be useful too, for study, since the rest of the kapka had such alchemical properties. He already had the best armor any money could buy after all.</p><p>He revealed his sharpest knife to cut away at the tough skin. The glint of the blade sent the little girl into a frenzy.</p><p>"No! No! Please! Don't hurt me, sir! Please!" she exclaimed.</p><p>"Calm down, it's not for you. I'll get to you in a minute."</p><p>This was not at all calming for the girl, who only struggled more. Loki didn’t bother looking up. He could hear her chains clanking together as she desperately tried to free herself. He focused his attention on his work.</p><p>The scales were difficult to remove, indeed. Eventually, he was able to lift the edge of one gnarled, greenish-black scales and dig in at the slightly softer skin below. He carved out a large swath of the creature’s skin about as long as his arm and folded it neatly before making it disappear back into his pocket.</p><p>He studied the creature’s musculature beneath the skin he had removed. Intrigued and already covered in blood, he made another long cut down the beast’s belly, cutting through skin and muscle before he felt the grate of his knife against bone. He dug his hands into the beast’s chest cavity. He placed one foot firmly on one side of the rib cage and hooked his arm under the other side. He pushed upwards, expecting the bones to break easily but was met with tremendous resistance. Determined, he took a deeper breath and heaved his shoulder against the ribs of the animal.</p><p>Sickening cracks rang out in the forest that made the girl jump. Loki didn’t notice, he was too interested in what he was seeing. The internal structure of the beast was quite like that of a large cat, but the bones were black as night. He extracted several rib bones from the beast as well as its heart and a few other organs, placing them again in conjured jars and boxes that vanished as quickly as they had appeared. Looking around the men’s small camp at the edge of the ravine, Loki located a large water skin. He poured some out into a bowl and crouched as he washed away the blood and bits of broken black bone and tissue from his hands. He looked up at the girl as he rubbed his hands together.</p><p>She opened her mouth to scream again, frightened senseless by the man covered in kapka gore. In an instant, the stranger appeared in front of her, clapping a hand over her mouth.</p><p>"If you want to stay alive, I wouldn't be screaming and calling those things - or anything else around - to us,” he said in an even tone. “I’ll get to you in a minute. Just be patient.”</p><p>She nodded vigorously, tears flooding down her cheeks. He straightened up and walked back to the bowl of water he had poured. She watched him. She wanted that water so badly. Her throat was dry and scratchy, her lips chapped and cracked. The stranger looked up at her again, having finished cleaning off his arms and armor. She looked away sharply, finding a sprig of grass to look at instead.</p><p>She heard him stand up. Her breath came faster. His feet barely made a sound as they strode across the ground in her direction. She closed her eyes and tucked her chin to her chest. Her whole body trembled as his feet came to rest beside her. She braced herself for a kick, but it never came.</p><p>Loki examined the chains. They were thick and old. Probably not made for the purpose of dangling a toddler over a cliff for evil beasties. They'd clearly been on her for a while too. They had left deep purple bruises in bands across her arms. He removed the large hook from the back of the chains. The sudden touch made the girl practically jump out of her skin. She began to weep again.</p><p>Loki rolled his eyes and continued examining the chains. He found a padlock resting on the girl’s shoulder blade. He looked up and around the camp again. Hopefully, the key wasn’t now inside the belly of a beast down below. He stood and began searching anyway. His eyes came to rest on a tough leather bag. He stood and grabbed it, turning over the flap and finding a small ring of keys.</p><p>“Ha, morons,” he muttered. “Just leaving the keys laying around.” He took the keys back over to the girl and tested each one in the lock.</p><p>“Ugh, you know, it’s always the last one you try,” he said out loud, inserting the last key into the lock. It clicked and the padlock opened. The girl flinched at the loud sound the lock made. Loki turned the lock over. It was old and rusty, grinding against itself. Unhooking the lock from the chains, he set it down beside him. The chains loosened around the girl’s morbidly thin frame. Loki was surprised that the weight of the chains had not crushed the tiny girl.</p><p>“There,” he said, finally freeing her. “I bet that feels a little better.”</p><p>She sniffled. She did not dare make eye contact, not even with her savior. She swallowed hard and nodded weakly. She did not dare to run either. This stranger would surely catch her and who knows what awful things he could do then.</p><p>He stood slowly and walked back towards the water skin. She slowly sat up, following him with her gaze, his back now turned to her. He was tall and lean with long black hair. A tattered green cape hung from his shoulders, falling just below his knees. He stooped to pick up the water skin and glanced over his shoulder at her. She quickly averted her eyes again, looking for anything else on the ground to stare at. He walked back over to her and crouched.</p><p>Loki could see how terrified the little girl was of him. Deep down he felt a pang of guilt for eliciting such a reaction from something so small, but he quickly batted the sentiment away. He offered her the mouth of the water skin. She turned just a bit further away.</p><p>“Come on,” he said. “You clearly need it.”</p><p>She turned back towards him; her gaze rose to the water skin. Loki noticed her eyes were the same vibrant shade of green as the plants around them. Dark circles around her eyes, caused by exhaustion, only accentuated the color more. Her face was pale and streaked with dirt and tear trails. She sniffled again. Leaning forward towards the mouth of the water skin. Loki gently edged the skin closer for her. Her eyes flinched at the movement, her lips just centimeters from the skin. She turned her head away sharply as if expecting a blow.</p><p>Loki sighed pityingly. “Come on,” he urged her, moving the water skin a bit closer to her. “It’s alright. I’m not going to hurt you.”</p><p>She hesitated a moment before turning her head back again. Loki nodded, reassuringly. Slowly, she lifted her hand to brace the skin and put her lips around the opening. Loki gently tilted the skin upwards. As the water flowed into her mouth, she grabbed the skin with her other hand, overwhelmed by the first taste of water she had had in days. Loki let her finish it off before lowering it again.</p><p>She wiped her mouth and then licked the back of her hand, not wanting to waste a single drop. He let out a sigh. What a wretched creature. She dropped her hands in front of her, folding them in her lap and lowering her head.</p><p>“Do you have a family,” he asked.</p><p>She shook her head no, still staring at the ground.</p><p>“What happened to them?”</p><p>She took a shuddering breath. “They didn’t want me anymore.”</p><p>Loki shook his head, glancing away from her.</p><p>“Is this your home-world?” he asked.</p><p>She shook her head again.</p><p>“Where are you from? Do you know?”</p><p>She looked about on the ground for a moment, searching for a stone or a blade of grass that would give her the answer. She swallowed hard and shook her head again, dejected.</p><p>“I suppose even if you did, you wouldn’t want to go back,” he said. He nudged his foot at the chains absentmindedly, then remembered something.</p><p>“Why have you not used your magic to escape?” he asked.</p><p>Her breath caught in her throat. Chills crept up her body. Her chest began to heave. She looked up, only raising her eyes to the man’s armored chest, shaking her head frantically.</p><p>“I – I – I don’t have no magic, sir,” she choked.</p><p>He cocked his head to one side. “Really? Well, it certainly felt like you did.” He knew she was hiding something, but she was far too scared to tell.</p><p>As he stood there, trying to figure out what to do with the child, her head suddenly snapped around, looking in the opposite direction. He turned around to see what she was looking at. She gasped and her hands went to her mouth, remembering what happened the last time she had tried to scream in front of the man.</p><p>At first, Loki could not figure out what the girl was hearing or seeing but the pounding footsteps that were growing ever-louder and ever-closer answered is questions.</p><p>            “Oh no,” Loki said. His shoulders fell.</p><p>            The monster that had knocked him out of the tree was crashing through the underbrush. He could just make out its stiff mane above the leaves of the brush. The girl scrambled to her feet and tried to run. She tripped over herself and the chains at her feet and crumpled into a ball.</p><p>            “No, don’t do that!” Loki exclaimed, hauling her up by the arm. “We need to leave now!”</p><p>            He ran into the trees behind them, practically dragging the girl along with him. The monster tore through the camp behind them. They could hear wrenching metal and the breaking of wood as they ran away. The girl cried out at the noise.</p><p>            “Ugh,” Loki groaned. “I don’t have time for this! I need a drink!”</p><p>            He summoned the tesseract’s energy once again. A jump like what he was planning would take some serious concentration; concentration that a mad beast chasing them was disrupting. He ran, eyes half closed, hauling the girl alongside him.</p><p>            “No! No!” she cried.</p><p>            He could feel her pulling away from him. He looked up and saw that they were running straight for the trunk of a great tree. Groaning with the effort it took to focus the tesseract’s energy with his magic, he finally felt the vapors envelope around them. They disappeared moments before they would have collided into the tree, leaving the beast behind them careening into its base.</p><p>            They both collapsed onto the ground on the other side of the portal. The girl covered her head with her hands, waiting to be trampled by the gigagrunt behind them. When she did not feel the pain of certain death, she sat up and looked around. They were in a wide meadow nowhere close to the dominating trees of the forest with no gigagrunt in sight. The sky above her was clear but two suns shined down on her face.</p><p>            She blinked rapidly and shook her head but both suns were still up there. The man sat up and shook his head.</p><p>            “That planet was insane!” he exclaimed. “Will <em>not</em> be going back there anytime soon.”</p><p>            She stared at him. That was magic that he used. It made sense now. Even though his cape was torn up, his armor was accented with gold and silver all over. And he talked nice. Only rich people talked like that.</p><p>            “Are you alright?” he asked her.</p><p>            She looked around, startled by his question. Realizing that they were completely alone and that his question truly was directed at her, she nodded.</p><p>            “Yes, sir,” she said, softly, looking down at her hands.</p><p>            “Good,” he replied. He stood and brushed himself off. He walked past her. She followed him with her eyes. He put his hands on his hips and looked around, then up in the sky at the double suns above them.</p><p>“I have no idea where we are,” he admitted, dropping his head. He turned back towards her. “Sometimes that happens. To be fair, we were being chased by a vicious monster so the fact we ended up on solid ground and not somewhere in the vacuum of space is rather impressive.” He stopped in front of her. “And on top of that, it’s a planet we can both breathe on! I’d say that’s pretty good for teleporting on the run.”</p><p>“Y – Yes, sir?” she said. She was not entirely sure if he was speaking to her still. She suddenly felt sick to her stomach. She swallowed hard. There was little sustenance in her stomach to begin with, save for maybe what was left of the water she’d drank, but it very much wanted out of her mouth. Her head began to spin, and she pitched forward.</p><p>“Oh, yes, sorry,” the man said, crouching down to catch her before she fell flat on her face. “That’s pretty normal after a big jump.”</p><p>She flinched at his touch. He gently turned her onto her back. She closed her eyes, trying to make the ground stop spinning. She blanched and felt a hot flush race over her face, traveling down her neck to her chest.</p><p>Loki watched her. Her chest still rose and fell. At least she wasn’t dead. He knew that could sometimes happen too. Not to him, of course. He knew what he was doing. But this girl did not. She was small and small things sometimes have a hard time fully materializing on the other side of portals. He examined her body. Despite the obvious lack of food and water and the cuts, bruises, and scars that covered her bare skin, she seemed to be all there. She opened her eyes again.</p><p>“Am I dying, sir?” she asked, meekly.</p><p>“You don’t appear to be,” Loki replied. This seemed to calm the girl for a moment before her eyes widened in fear.</p><p>“Is this one of the hells?” she asked.</p><p>Loki wondered what sort of religion had such beautiful hells but reassured her with a smirk, “I doubt it.”</p><p>Her face twisted with fear and she asked, “Are you a demon?”</p><p>Loki smiled and hesitated a moment before answering, “Some people probably think I am -including myself occasionally- but no, I am not.”</p><p>She sighed, relieved. She blinked a few times, still trying to make the two suns turn back into one. Seeing that her blinks had failed, she began to sit up slowly.</p><p>“Welcome back,” the man said, smiling wryly. “Better?”</p><p>She nodded and then looked down seemingly disappointed in herself. “Yes, sir,” she said.</p><p>“My name is Loki,” he told her. “What’s your name?”</p><p>For the first time, her eyes met his. She seemed confused by the question at first. Loki nodded, prompting her again. She quickly looked down at her hands before looking back up at him.</p><p>“My – My name is Kuna,” she said, holding his gaze for a moment before submissively adding, “Sir.”</p><p>She wondered if he would hit her for telling him. No master ever asked her name and certainly no rich person. All the slaves she had ever seen tell a master their name were beaten so senseless. She would have forgotten hers a long time ago from disuse, if she hadn’t carved it into her wrist with a rusty nail in the stockyard.</p><p>Loki nodded. “Kuna,” he said, testing the name aloud. She dropped her head, anticipating a smack at the very least but it didn’t come. “That’s a beautiful name,” he said.</p><p>Her eyes widened at the ground below her. This must be some trick. He was not possibly being… nice to her. He stood up again and looked around. “Well, it looks to me like those suns are setting,” he observed. “We should make a camp before it gets dark.”</p><p>This was definitely the strangest rich person Kuna had ever met.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. A Drink</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Loki walked away towards a hill that rose up at one end of the meadow. Kuna stood, staggering a bit as the world still spun a little around her. She followed him up the hill. At the top, Loki stopped. Kuna stumbled up towards him, but the sudden stop made the ground go all off kilter and she fell down beside him.</p><p>Loki, unfazed by the blundering child beside him, looked out across the valley below. His eyes landed on a small, dilapidated looking building, sheltered by a cluster of trees. A small stream ran beside it.</p><p>“How idyllic,” Loki mused, looking down at Kuna. She was still fumbling around on the ground next to him like a newborn foal trying to find its legs for the first time. Eventually, she regained her feet but was facing the wrong direction. Loki placed a gentle hand on her head. She flinched beneath him, but he gently turned her round to face he right way.</p><p>            “Look down there,” he said, pointing at the building. “There’s an old shack. Maybe we can stay there for the night. Let’s go see if anyone’s home.” He started off down the hill.</p><p>Kuna shook her head, trying to make the world stop spinning. However, this only made the world spin more. She took one step forward and fell, rolling down the hill; rolling past Loki. He stopped, chuckling as she tumbled, not-so-gracefully, down the hill. She came to halt at the bottom, sitting up, her legs splayed out in front of her. She wobbled with dizziness for a moment before flopping back onto the grass.</p><p>            “Yes, that could happen for while,” he chuckled. He turned back towards the shack and began walking again, stepping high to get through the tall grass.</p><p>Kuna stood once more, determined this time, to walk normal. She fought her way through the tall grass, trying to follow the sound of Loki’s footsteps. The blades rose well above her little head. She pushed her arms out in front of her, wobbling with the effort, and tried to clear a path for herself as she stumbled forward. She caught up with Loki who had stepped out of the tall grass and was slowly approaching the door of the hut with his dagger tucked up his sleeve.</p><p>It could hardly be considered a door as it hung, broken from its hinges. The windows were broken. Moss and thick ivy grew on one side, creeping up the chimney and onto the roof. Kuna braced herself on Loki’s leg, trying desperately not to fall again.</p><p>“I don’t think anyone’s home,” he said. “Good thing, I thought I was going to have to stab someone.” Kuna looked up at him, terrified at the thought of him killing someone again. He wasn’t looking at her. Instead, he examined the old hut. “Good thing for them, that is. It’s a shame for me,” he continued, muttering more to himself than to Kuna. They walked up to the threshold. Kuna stood behind Loki, cowering a little.</p><p>“Hello?” Loki called. He pushed gently on the door. It broke off its hinges and fell with loud bang onto the floor inside. “Well, that’s lovely,” he remarked and stepped in.</p><p>Kuna followed, apprehensively. Her gaze dropped to the large step. She took her time to prepare herself to lift her foot. Slowly, she put weight onto the foot, then the knee. Straightening up just too fast, the room started to spin again. She groaned. She did not like this at all.</p><p>Inside the small, one-room shack, old straw and broken furniture littered the floor. The smell of earthy decay and damp filled their nostrils. It smelled old. On one wall, close to the hearth, a rickety bench covered in tough leather hides, leaned up against the wall.</p><p>“Here,” Loki said, turning to pick the girl up. “You need to sit down before you fall over again.”</p><p>She backed away, instinctively but Loki put his hands under her armpits and lifted her up. She whimpered, not fully understanding why he was carrying her. He walked her over to the bench and set her down gently. It creaked but held beneath her minimal weight. In truth, the furs that covered it probably weighed more than she did. She put her hand to her head and swayed.</p><p>            “Just stay here,” Loki said, pushing her against the back of the bench with a gentle finger. She leaned back, her head lolling against the wall. He made a gesture for her to stay and then turned towards the cabinets on the far wall. He rummaged through the debris and forgotten household items and found a small pot and a couple cups. Standing up again, he glanced at Kuna.</p><p>            She was slumped over to her left, nodding off. Her matted brown hair kissed at the furs as her head instinctively tried to right itself to a sitting position. He wasn’t surprised by her exhaustion. After today’s ordeal and what was likely several years of torture at the hands of those men and who knows who else, on top of a world jump, she was right to be exhausted.</p><p>            He walked back over to her and gingerly took her shoulders, trying to lower her to a prone position on the bench. She jumped, suddenly very awake, and grabbed defensively at his hands, crying out.</p><p>            “It’s alright,” he said, coolly. “Just lie down and try to relax.” Her jumpiness was beginning make him jumpy. “I’m going to go fetch some water for us. I’ll be right back.”</p><p>            He stepped out of the shack and walked towards the stream. She was a mess, Loki thought to himself. He paused for a moment and considered teleporting away, jumping to another planet and leaving the girl behind. He swatted the thought away as quickly as it had come, shaking his head to physically remove it from his mind. That would be insane, cruel, even, to do that to a girl who had already suffered so much.</p><p>            He stomped towards the stream and knelt to scoop up some water. The stream bubbled over smooth, rounded pebbles and was quite clear. He took a cup and dipped it into the water, having a taste for himself. It was refreshingly cool but had a slightly strange taste. He waited for a moment and then shrugged. Seeing as he did not immediately keel over and die, he assumed the water was clean enough.</p><p>            He filled the pot to the brim and rinsed out the old cups. He set off again for the shack. He took a deep breath, taking in the pristineness of the valley around him. His head spun a little with excitement. Loki loved the freedom to do as he pleased; to go wherever he wanted in the whole universe. Even now, with his impromptu little companion, he felt for the first time in his life, true happiness. Or what he thought was true happiness. In truth, he could not really remember a time in his life where he felt happy, so all these feelings were new to him.</p><p>            Returning to the shack, he ducked under the low doorframe and walked to the center of the room, beside the bench. Setting the pot down on the floor, he carefully filled one of the cups with water. He sat down and took another sip, looking up at the sleeping child. He did not want to wake her as she seemed rather peaceful now.</p><p>            She was dreadfully thin. Her face was gaunt and pale. Loki could practically see the sinews holding her bones together under her skin. She needed a bath too. Her body was caked in what he imagined was weeks, if not months, of grime and her hair was tangled in thick mats. But her thin figure was what worried him the most. He needed to find food for her and quickly.</p><p>“Food first,” he whispered to himself. “Bath later.”</p><p>He stood once again and ducked outside. The first sun was just beginning to touch the horizon while the second loomed above it. Looking about at the trees behind the shack, Loki wondered if he would be able to locate edible food on this foreign planet.</p><p>            It was easy for Loki to go several days, even weeks, without eating if he needed to. He supposed he had his lineage to thank for that, at least. However, he often would teleport to more civilized planets and purchase food that was already prepared for him. Foraging was not exactly something he had needed to do often in his life.</p><p>            He walked back into the copse of trees and came to a small grove where his eyes were caught by a familiar looking green fruit. He walked closer for a better look. To his amazement, an apple tree grew amongst a cluster of oaks and elms. As he looked about, he realized he recognized many trees that were native to the Nine Realms, yet he did not know of any habitable planets anywhere near their system that orbited a dual sun.</p><p>            He shrugged this off. Perhaps these species were invasive and slowly took over other planets when their seeds were carried to new realms by more advanced travelers. He wished he could do that; take over other realms so easily. He needed whole armies with advanced weaponry and strategic plans and yet even then, he had his butt handed to him by six freaks.</p><p>Frowning at the unpleasant memory, he climbed up the tree a little way to grab a few apples. Letting them fall to the ground, he collected several for both he and Kuna, before dropping down himself. He pulled his tattered cape from around his back and folded it over on his stomach, making a small pouch. He gathered up the apples in his pouch and returned to the shack, content with how his hunt for food had gone.</p><p>            Kuna had not moved from the bench save for adjusting the fur over her to a more comfortable position. She was still fast asleep. Loki sat down again on the floor beside the water pot and cups and took out his knife. He cut an apple in half and examined it. It looked perfectly normal to him. He brought it to his nose and sniffed. Smelled like an apple. He took a small nibble of the skin and meat of the fruit with his teeth. Tasted like an apple. He waited to see if the apple might kill him, but it did not happen.</p><p>            If it was safe for him, it was safe for Kuna. He cut out the core and seeds of the other half of the apple and filled the other cup with water. He gently nudged Kuna with his finger.</p><p>            “Kuna,” he whispered, afraid she would freak out again if he were too loud. “Kuna,” he said a little louder but still the child did not move. Was she dead? He watched her chest for a moment. It rose as she took in a deep breath and fell again as she exhaled. Deep down Loki felt a bit of disappointment at the still living child. Perhaps, it would be merciful to kill her.</p><p><em>It would be easy,</em> a voice crept out of the depths of his mind; his voice.</p><p>Loki shook his head as hard as could to get the voice to return to where it had come from. He had struggled for weeks to bury it so it would leave him alone.</p><p>
  <em>She’s just a child.</em>
</p><p>“Shut up,” Loki muttered and turned back to the child. “Kuna?” he said once more, poking her again with his finger. “I have some food and water for you.”</p><p>            She groaned and sleepily turned her head towards him. Her eyes opened slowly. She looked up at him for just a moment before looking away again.</p><p>            “Good evening,” Loki said, softly. “I hope you like apples and weird water.” He handed her the cup first.</p><p>She lifted it to her lips and drank deeply and then shyly took the half of the apple he offered her. The water did taste weird. It burned a little in her throat, leaving a bitter taste behind, but it was still more refreshing than her own saliva which she’d been sucking on for hours. She took a small bite of the apple but upon tasting the sweet juice and crunch of the fruit, she took several large bites and it was gone.</p><p>            “Slow down,” Loki laughed. “Don’t hurt yourself. There’s plenty.”</p><p>            He sat back down and cut up another apple, this time giving it to Kuna in small slices so she could not bolt it down again. She took each slice, gingerly, and ate it. Now and then, she would pick up her cup and take another deep drink. When it was empty, Loki took it back and filled it again before returning it too her.</p><p>Her face contorted in confusion when he handed the cup back to her as if she had never been given anything in her life. When she took it from him, she bowed her head low in gratitude. He could tell she did not fully trust him yet, but she was coming around it seemed. He did not blame her for not trusting him. Despite the fact it was often the feeling people had around him, Loki thought Kuna had good reason to not trust a stranger. He certainly wouldn’t if he had experienced what she had.</p><p>Loki filled his cup again and took another swig of the strange-tasting water. He swayed a little as he put the cup down. Perhaps, he too was a bit tired from the jump. Big world jumps like that often left him exhausted too. He shrugged and drank again.</p><p> He sat for a moment, trying to place the strange taste again. It was subtle but familiar. He frowned at the cup and drank again. Smacking his tongue on the roof of his mouth, he tried to recall what it tasted like. The aftertaste was rather bitter, but it was more than that.</p><p>He took another sip and concentrated on what he tasted. He felt like one of the ridiculous mead-tasters in the palace at Asgard; swishing the liquid in his mouth and trying to come up with some ludicrous description of ‘malty, sweet honey’ for a sour tasting bad mead.</p><p>Focusing on the water again, he felt a sort of warmth in his throat as it descended to his stomach. The feeling reminded him of home, of Asgard, of mead, but perhaps, stronger? He spit out the water in a burst of spray across the room, making Kuna jump nearly to the ceiling.</p><p>“Shit!” he exclaimed. “It’s alcoholic!” He jumped up and took the cup from Kuna, who shied away, cowering, wondering what she had done wrong to induce such a frenzy from Loki.</p><p>“I’m sorry, kid,” he said. “But you cannot drink anymore of that. I think it’s what’s making you ill.”</p><p>Kuna did not understand. He had been so nice to her up to this point. She still had not decided if she were in hells or still alive. While he had been out looking for food and water, she had dreamily begun to wonder about him. When she had first seen him, as she dangled from the chain on Torileena, she thought for sure he was a demon from hells, there to haul her down to punishment.</p><p>When he had offered her water and freed her from her restraints, she wondered if this were some twisted torture meant to tantalize her. He had reassured her that he was not a demon and she had almost believed him. She had wondered to herself if Loki’s grace would end and if he would begin to hurt her like all the others before. She determined that, if it did, she was probably dead, and Loki was probably a demon and she was being tortured in the hell reserved for the worst of slaves.</p><p>She cowered away from him, wondering what her first punishment would be and for what horrible deed she had committed. Perhaps she would be beaten for the time she had stolen a moldy bit of bread from the garbage of her fourth master. Or the time with her sixth master, where she had sat down to rest her feet in the fields on Spintula.</p><p>She buried her head into the furs, awaiting the pain of the torture all her masters had told her she deserved to suffer when she finally died. Tears wetted the tough fur of the animal skin under her. She took in a shuddering breath and sobbed.</p><p>Loki panicked. She was crying. He had been a little too aggressive in getting the alcoholic drink away from her and now she was crying. And she was drunk. He had intoxicated a child into a stupor. He put his hands on his head, running his fingers through his hair in desperation.</p><p>“Oh, oh, no,” he said, bending over her, putting his hands out to console her but hovering just above so as not to scare her. “No, please don’t do that. I didn’t mean to frighten you. I just… You can’t – you can’t have that drink. You’ve had too much of it and it’s making you sick.”</p><p>She looked up from the furs. Her eyelids were flinching, expecting a blow at any minute. Her tears made her eyelashes stick together and feel heavy. This demon was scary. He was nice and then mean and then nice again.</p><p>“No, no. I’m not a demon. I promise,” he said desperately, as if reading her mind. Only demons could do that, she thought to herself. Demons or sorcerers. “No, Kuna. It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you. At all. I promise.”</p><p>Kuna was still breathing hard, trembling with fear, but something in his voice felt sincere.</p><p>Loki thought of what he could do to make her believe him. He didn’t want her to be afraid of him. He shook his head, trying to think about how to convince a child he was not a demon.</p><p>He stuck out his pinky finger to her. “Kuna, I swear I’m not going to hurt you,” he said. His voice was soft but determined. “I pinky swear.”</p><p>She stared at his finger from under the furs. A pinky swear was no joke. There was some serious cosmic magic behind them, everyone knew that. The kind of cosmic magic not even the rich people could ban them from.</p><p>Kuna stared for a long while at his extended finger. Her brain felt foggy. She couldn’t think straight or really even see straight. She still felt horribly dizzy and nauseous. A demon could not possibly break a pinky swear. No. She believed him. She stuck out her pinky from the safety of the furs and took his.</p><p>“I pinky swear,” he said. They locked pinkies. Loki nodded at her in affirmation. She nodded back at him and then pulled her hand away.</p><p>“Now,” Loki began, again. “I need to get more food in you.” He glanced down at their remaining apples. He shook his head. He didn’t think that would help to stem the effects of the alcohol. She needed bread. He remembered, suddenly, that he had saved a partial loaf of bread from a market on the planet he had found Kuna on. He mentally kicked himself for not thinking of it before.</p><p>He made it appear from the miniverse he lovingly referred to as his ‘pocket’. Wrapped in a small cloth, he uncovered the loaf and tore off a small piece to give to Kuna. She took it and gave him an uneasy, distrustful look.</p><p>“It’s alright,” he said. “It’s from the marketplace on Torileena. It’s still fresh.”</p><p>She took a nibble, tasting it. Upon determining it was good, she happily ate the rest. Loki handed her another piece and another until she had eaten the rest of the loaf. She blinked sleepily at him and then, for the first time, smiled. She giggled a little at him. She was plastered.</p><p>“What?” he said, laughing with her. Her happiness was alarmingly contagious.</p><p>“You’re funny,” she said.</p><p>“Is that right?”</p><p>She nodded her head up and down like proud horse. Loki laughed and rolled his eyes, putting his tongue in his cheek which elicited even more giggles from the child. He couldn’t help but be a little amused at the drunken little girl in front of him.</p><p>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>            The second sun had long set. A cold draught blew in through the failure of a door. The cold didn’t bother Loki, but he felt pangs of fear for Kuna. She had been sleeping peacefully for hours. He physically shuddered at the thought of having any sort of attachment to this child. He had to keep on the move, ahead of his brother - should he have chosen to chase him – and whoever else would be after the tesseract.</p><p>            <em>You know who else will want it,</em> his more sinister voice in his head hissed. Loki physically shook the voice away. Today had been the first time in a while that <em>he</em> had surfaced. Loki looked out the window to distract himself from himself.</p><p>It had taken a surprisingly long time for both suns to set. They had painted the distant clouds beautiful shades of pink and orange. Now that it was dark, Loki could see three small moons orbiting the planet from the window. Their phases were unusual to him as the dual suns and multiple moons cast whimsical shadows onto their surfaces. However, without the warmth of the sun, the cold had begun to settle. Loki stood. Kuna, waking at the sound of him standing, watched.</p><p>            “I think we need a little fire in this hearth,” he said.</p><p>            Kuna sat up, dizzily, swinging her legs over the side of the bench to go gather some firewood.</p><p>            “Oh, no. Not you,” he said, gesturing for her to stop. “I’ll do it. You just lie down and rest.”</p><p>            She drunkenly slumped back onto the bench and passed out. Loki let out a little sigh. It was rather normal for children on Asgard to share a drink or two with their parents, but it hardly led to any drunkenness. He thought Kuna had probably never even tasted alcohol, let alone been intoxicated before. And the lack of food and water in her system probably only augmented the effects. He shook his head at himself and walked outside.</p><p>            He walked around the yard of the house, picking up branches and twigs. He took in a deep breath as he worked. Today had been a rough one. Attacked and chased by monsters, fooling two morons into their deaths, saving a child and then getting said child wasted on alcoholic water. He let out his breath in a heavy sigh.</p><p>            He swayed a little from a sudden dizziness. Even he was not immune to the effects of the alcohol water. He smiled. At least he could handle himself drunk. Kuna, on the other hand, had no business being in such a state.</p><p>            Loki pondered for a moment about the chemical make up of this planet. He assumed that it also likely rained alcohol mixed with water. He chuckled to himself at the thought of frozen ice caps where icy drinks could be served straight off the ground. He finished gathering up the wood and returned to the hut, laughing at himself.</p><p>            He placed the wood into the hearth and crouched down, assembling a little tee-pee with the sticks and branches. He took some straw from the floor for kindling and used a simple sparking spell to light it.</p><p>            An explosion of flames erupted into his face. He jerked back and fell onto the floor, grabbing his blistered hand. He cried out in pain as he looked at his burned, red hand. He seethed and turned over onto his sides, hissing at the pain and heat that radiated up his arm.</p><p>            Kuna cried out too but in fear more than any physical pain. She leapt off the bench and dove underneath it, hiding from whatever fire monster had just attacked Loki. She mewled, burying her face in her arms.</p><p>            Loki felt for her. He had done nothing but scare her all day. He regained himself and sat up, examining his hand. He had no idea why the spell backfired so literally. His fingers shook with the pain. He cradled it again for a moment. He hated burns. His cursed frost giant blood hated burns.</p><p>            He glowered at the floor and the singed straw that lay upon it. He shook his head and kicked it in anger. This only frightened Kuna more. Loki closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to ground himself. He was acting like his brute of a brother, lashing out like that. He exhaled slowly and turned his head to look at Kuna, hiding under the bench.</p><p>“I’m sorry, Kuna,” he said. “I should not have lost my temper like that. And I’m sorry about the explosion, too. I guess I put a little more power than was needed into that spell.” He looked again at his burned hand. The pain still smarted down his fingers and into his wrist. “I’m also a little tipsy, too,” he added, smirking at her and chuckling.</p><p>            “Is your hand okay, sir?” she asked. Her voice was barely audible, her mouth still covered up by her arms as she peered up at Loki.</p><p>            Loki sighed. “Yes. I’m fine,” he said. “And you don’t have to call me ‘sir’. You can just call me Loki.”</p><p>            Kuna swallowed hard. No one had ever allowed her to call them by their first names. Not out loud. And not at least without a ‘master’ or a ‘my lord’ or a ‘sire’ before it. She inched out from under the bench and came to sit beside Loki. Her movements were hesitant but eventually, she came to rest by Loki’s side. She looked at his burned hand and then at the pot of water on the floor. She pulled it close to them, wanting to clean his wound but Loki stopped her.</p><p>            “Oh, well, it’s nice of you to offer, Kuna, but this water would <em>not</em> make my hand feel any better.”</p><p>            “What’s wrong with it?” she asked, pushing the pot away in shock. Had he poisoned her? She couldn’t remember if he too had drank the water. Her memory felt heavy and foggy.</p><p>            “It has alcohol in it,” Loki said, hesitantly. “A lot of alcohol. That’s why you got so sick and dizzy and sleepy when you drank from it—” Loki trailed off.</p><p>            Kuna peered down at the water in the pot. It looked normal to her, but it had tasted really weird. Loki stood up quickly and stared down at Kuna. She froze but did not run from him. His mouth dropped open for a moment and he looked around in the air as if searching for something. He suddenly picked Kuna up and moved her to the cabinets on the other side of the room. She was confused. Had he heard something outside? Maybe it was the gigagrunt again! Maybe it followed them from Torileena!</p><p>            “Stay behind this counter, okay,” he told her. She nodded but peeked out from the corner to watch what he was doing.</p><p>            Loki ran back to the hearth and leaned over the sticks and branches he had built up. He extended his burned hand towards them. He shook slightly, only a little sure of what would happen when he used the spark spell again. He focused his seidr and conjured a small spark.</p><p>He dove out of the way of another fireball that erupted in front of his hand. The heat and flame were enough to send renewed twinges of pain down his already burned hand but did not make the injury any worse. He leapt to his feet and ran to Kuna.</p><p>            “Gah!” he exclaimed, scooping her up. “The air’s alcoholic too! I am a moron! We have to get out of here.”</p><p>            Kuna looked up at him. He switched her to his opposite hip and arm. He summoned the tesseract to his hand and conjured up its energies. He glanced down at Kuna again. He the brief thought crossed his mind that she might not have the strength to make it through another jump like this. But they could not stay here.</p><p>            “I’m sorry, Kuna. We have to jump again.”</p><p>            She clutched his leather jacket in her little hand and held on tight, shoving her face into his chest. She had no idea what he was on about or what ‘jumping’ meant but she had an awful feeling about it.</p><p>            “That’s right,” Loki said. “Hold on to me.” He looked down at the tesseract. “Somewhere with no alcohol in the water or the air,” he hissed at it. He concentrated and the vapors enveloped them, whisking them away to a new realm.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Ice & Volcanoes</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>On the other side of the portal, Loki’s feet sank into deep, deep snow. His heart sank with them. He looked around in disappointment. He was waist deep in snow drift and all around him was a dessert of snow dunes for miles, save for a small outcropping of rock in the distance.</p>
<p>“Oh no,” he said. “Please, don’t tell me this is Jotunheim.” He looked up to the sky. Two large planets orbited closely in the sky. Auroras flitted across the sky in ribbons of green and purple and pink. Loki let a relieved huff. Jotunheim was not orbited by any other planets. So, at least it wasn’t <em>that</em> monstrous realm.</p>
<p>He glared at the tesseract. “This is not funny,” he growled at it. A glimmer flashed up at his face inside the cube. He thought this was the stone’s way of laughing at him for thinking he could fully control its powers without a true harness. In truth, he was often just along for the ride during jumps. Occasionally, he could get the tesseract to behave and follow his will, but he didn’t always get what he wanted.</p>
<p>Loki felt a shivering arise on his chest and suddenly remembered Kuna. He looked down. She was shaking in his arms from the cold. Her lips had turned blue and frost was beginning to build up on her eyelashes and matted hair.</p>
<p>“Shit!” Loki said. He looked around, desperately. He squinted into the distance and found the rocky outcropping again. A single cluster of peaks, clawing their way out of the snow. Perhaps, they could get behind it to shelter themselves from the wind at the very least. He put the tesseract away and removed his cape from his shoulders, wrapping the child in it. He pulled it up over her head and held her close to him.</p>
<p>“I’m hardly one to keep you warm, either,” he muttered. Her teeth chattered. There was no way they could jump again. At least not for a while. Loki was surprised she had not passed out from the jump. The tesseract had a perverse way of seeking out physical weakness and exploiting it, often until death or madness.</p>
<p>He trudged through the snow, holding Kuna just above its surface. The trek was hard and exhausting. He too was feeling the fatigue of two large jumps in a single day as well as the faint dizziness of intoxication. The wind whipped at his hair and howled in his ears.</p>
<p>Slowly, they were approaching the rocky outcropping, rising out of the snow. Loki thought it must have been the peak of a tall mountain that had been buried over years and years of constant snow. The driving wind had whipped up snow all along the frontward face and along its sides.</p>
<p>As he approached the side of the peak, the snow rose up in a tall drift. His legs were growing tired and heavy. They were starting to burn from the exertion of plowing a path through the snow and he was breathing hard, his breath creating aggressive clouds of mist in front of him, condensing and freezing on his eyelashes. Kuna was barely alive on his chest. It had taken him nearly an hour to get this far. If she wasn’t hypothermic yet, she would be soon.</p>
<p>“My lineage could not have at least given me the power to walk on top of this wretched stuff?” he shouted at the snow, but the wind whipped his voice away. Kuna flinched in his arms and let out a shuddering breath. He trudged on, groaning with effort. He tried to keep his eyes on the horizon so he didn’t have to see how slowly he was moving.</p>
<p>He was approaching the top of the snow drift that surrounded the peak. As he reached the top, he could see a massive bowl of snow and rock below him, created by the swirling wind behind the mountain. He looked for a way down. He could see a rough crack in the rock of the mountain. Hoping it was a cave they could take shelter in, he took a step forward to get a better look. Suddenly, the snow gave way from under his feet and sent both he and Kuna tumbling down a massive mountain side, into the crater below. Loki hit the snow hard and bounced, letting go of Kuna. He heard her cry out as she tumbled down the hill in front of him.</p>
<p>Loki bounced down the mountain, hitting mounds of snow, ice, and the occasional bare patch of rock. Suddenly, he was soaring through the air with nothing to catch him but the snow at the base of the mountain. He slammed into its surface. It felt like hitting concrete at terminal velocity. He sank deep into the snow and blacked out.</p>
<p>He came to a moment later in the dark and panicked. He didn’t like tight places. He stood and looked up at the Loki-shaped hole in the snow he had left. The surface was at least ten feet above his head. Filled with a sudden dread, he looked around, panicked.</p>
<p>“Where’s the tesseract?” he said aloud. He felt his jacket but then concentrated and revealed the tesseract from the safety of his pocket. He sighed, relieved. At least he could still get away from this awful planet. Another dreadful thought nagged at him. He tried to shrug it away when he gasped.</p>
<p>“Oh shit! The kid!” She wasn’t in the hole with him. He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, “Kuna!” He listened but there was no answer above the wind. “Kuna!” he shouted again. There was no response. “Shit. Shit. Shit!” he said, pacing back and forth in his tiny, snowy cell.</p>
<p>He touched the snow, trying to find a hold to climb out but the snow gave way. He fell backwards and landed on his bum. He looked down at his hands. They were turning blue, not from the cold, but from his Jotun blood. He hissed at them and tried make it stop by folding has hands under his arms. He revealed the tesseract from his pocket again.</p>
<p>“Of all the places in this universe, you had to teleport us to this frozen Hel!” he shouted at the tesseract. It glimmered at him.</p>
<p>“<em>You</em> are going to listen to me this time and <em>you</em> are going to teleport me up there to get that kid. Understand?”</p>
<p>It glimmered once more. He closed his eyes and focused on where he wanted to go. The vapors swirled around him and he reappeared on top of the snow. He opened his eyes. He could see the hole he had made when he fell, just a few feet away.</p>
<p>“That’s right, you stupid piece of…” he grumbled, his words lost to the wind. He put the cube away and called out again, “Kuna? Kuna! Where are you? Are you dead?”</p>
<p>A little mound of snow shifted a few feet to his right. “Ah, there you are,” he said, running over to it. He dipped his blue hands into the snow but they clasped nothing. He backed away as the mound of snow began to grow. Bewildered, he staggered backwards. The mound grew and grew, forming arms and legs and a chest and a head and a great, gaping maw.</p>
<p>“That’s bad,” he said. The snow monster roared at him. “That’s bad!” he shouted as he ran away. The monster chased after him, roaring as it stomped through the snow. “We are going to have to have a serious talk about where you teleport me because this is <em>not </em>working!” Loki yelled at the tesseract.</p>
<p>As he ran, more of the monsters began to appear, sprouting out of the snow like monstrous daisies. They surrounded him, backing him up against the bare rock wall of the mountain. He took a stance, ready to fight with whatever magic he could conjure. The snow monsters were closing in on him, when he saw Kuna rise from the snow behind them.</p>
<p>She was shaking and half frozen but alive. The monsters had not yet seen her. Loki made a motion for her to get down. One monster took this as a threat and stomped towards Loki, swinging it’s club like arm at him. It struck Loki and he went flying through the air, hitting the rocky wall and landing face first on the ground.</p>
<p>“Hey! Leave him alone!” Kuna shouted and threw her hands out in front of her. From them, came a silvery flash of magic, from what Loki could tell. For a split second, it did not seem to have done anything but then the monsters were hit with an incredibly powerful wall of wind. Some were exploded on the spot, turning into flurries of snowflakes, while others were blown into chunks of snow and ice that landed all around Loki.</p>
<p>From where Kuna had been, a spine-tingling shriek arose. Kuna fell over backwards, writhing in pain and crying. Had she been hit by them? Loki couldn’t tell. He glanced around them and saw the crack in the rock face to his left big enough for him to fit through. He jumped to his feet and ran past the snow monsters, some of whom were starting to put themselves back together, and scooped the screaming Kuna up out of the snow.</p>
<p>“Oh, we’ve got to move!” he said, just as one snowman had put himself back together. The others were still struggling, some with arms where legs should have been and arms where bodies needed to be. Kuna passed out in his arms as he ran for the crack in the wall. He shimmied through it, holding Kuna tight to his chest. “I will <em>not</em> be killed by a snowman!” Loki muttered.</p>
<p>The snowmen were clawing at the entrance. One began to shrink down to a size that could fit through the crack. He made a swipe at Loki. Loki put up his blue hand in defense and was surprised when a spray of ice erupted from it, blocking the entrance and turning the snowman to solid ice. Loki pulled a throwing knife from the belt on his back and threw it at the frozen head of the beast; it burst into a million pieces. Kuna came to in his arms again and cried out.</p>
<p>“It’s alright,” Loki said. “It’s just me.”</p>
<p>They pushed out of the narrow entrance and into a dark room. He set Kuna down on the ground for a moment to cast a spell to light the room. The motion made her head spin. She lurched forward and started gagging. Heaving, she vomited up the apples and bread Loki had fed her earlier. She shuddered half from the sick and half from the cold and pain still permeating her tiny body.</p>
<p>“Oh no!” she cried. She pulled herself to her hands and knees and started to cover up the sick with the snow and dirt that covered the floor. “I’m sorry, Mr. Loki. I’ll make it go away. I didn’t mean to, sir,” she said, frantic.</p>
<p>“Don’t worry about that,” he said. “It’s not your fault.” She was swaying back and forth, her teeth chattering, her whole body trembling. “It’s alright, Kuna,” he said, reaching for her in the dark. “I think we’re safe now.”</p>
<p>He cast a candlelight spell and a small orb of light floated from his hands, illuminating the dark room. It was covered in solid, blue ice. Loki turned back to Kuna and tried to pick her back up again. She gasped and recoiled from him.</p>
<p>“You’re blue!” she cried. “What’s wrong with your eyes?”</p>
<p>He looked down at his hand. The blue pigment was dark against the blue of the ice. Small, raised scars covered his hand and fingers in semi-circular patterns. He withdrew his hand and stared at Kuna.</p>
<p>“I’m - I’m sorry,” he said.</p>
<p>She tried to stand but her legs gave out beneath her. She crawled on all fours over to his leg. He took an apprehensive step backwards. Was she afraid of him? She put her arms around his leg and hugged him.</p>
<p>“I’ll keep you warm, Loki,” she said.</p>
<p>Loki sighed and rolled his eyes. He looked at his hands a moment. His whole body must have changed, revealing his Jotun form. And she thought it was because he was freezing to death. He crouched. He was afraid to touch her. He had seen what Jotuns could do with a single touch. She looked up at him and then buried her head into his knee.</p>
<p>“It’s not because I'm cold, Kuna,” he said, gently raising her head. “You’re freezing, though. I need to find a way to keep you warm.”</p>
<p>He picked her up again and walked through the room. There was a large, door-like opening on one side. He walked through, cautiously, making sure there were no more snowmen anywhere. Those must have been the planet’s natives, he thought to himself.</p>
<p>The passage began to darken but the candlelight lazily floated a few feet in front of Loki. Thankfully, this passage was much wider than the last and both Loki and Kuna could fit through without hugging the walls. The ice was thick and translucent blue. Loki could see that it was quite pure, free from air bubbles and debris. When he looked into it, it was as if he could see through the ice for miles. It’s warbled surface only enhanced the effect. The candlelight reflected off each divot and palm of the ice. The blue ice soon gave way to black rock and warm air. Once again, the passage widened in front of them, revealing an astonishing cavern structure.</p>
<p>Huge, clear stalactites hung down from the ceiling. Below them, large crystalline stalagmites rose from the ground. Some pairs connected in the midair, creating massive crystal pillars that stretched from the floor to the ceiling. He walked out into the center of the large room. The candlelight he had conjured floated about, casting iridescent shadows on the walls through the crystals.</p>
<p>“Look at this,” he said.</p>
<p>Kuna weakly raised her head and blinked, amazed at what she saw. Loki pressed his hand to one of the crystals. He could feel a lovely, energetic vibration that made his aura feel balanced and warm. He looked to the back of the cavern. It did not seem to lead anywhere, and they appeared to be completely alone in the room. Satisfied with their safety, Loki found a good place to set Kuna down. She no longer had the strength to sit up and collapsed onto the floor. Loki gently lowered her down. She closed her eyes.</p>
<p>This was bad, Loki thought to himself. She would die in here if he didn’t come up with some way to save her. He looked around. Of all the places to perish, this wasn’t so bad. He shook his head, removing the dark thought from his mind.</p>
<p>He conjured up a blanket from his pocketverse and laid it over Kuna. As he stooped, he could feel a warmth radiating up from the cracks in the ground. A warmth from deep, deep below them.</p>
<p>“Mmm,” he muttered. “Volcanic.” Anciently volcanic but volcanic, nonetheless. He then looked back up at the structures above him and chuckled, realizing what they were. “Well, little one, I think we hit the jackpot here. I think these are diamonds.”</p>
<p>Kuna looked around her in wonder. Diamonds? They were so big. The biggest diamond she had ever seen was the one in Master Machaluci’s chest. He was her tenth master and a very, very rich man; the son of the richest man in their whole solar system. He had the diamond embedded into his chest, just below his collarbone so everyone would see it when he entered a room. He said it was the biggest diamond in the universe, but these diamonds were much, much bigger.</p>
<p>She was so tired. Her head hurt, and her limbs hurt, and her body hurt, and her stomach hurt. She hurt. Too tired to keep her head up anymore, she laid back down and stared at Loki’s boots.</p>
<p>He was worried about her. What was he going to do? How could he save her?</p>
<p><em>Why would you want to?</em> the voice, again. It rose from inside him like the head of a serpent.</p>
<p>“Stop,” Loki uttered, inaudible to the now sleeping Kuna.</p>
<p>
  <em>Why not just leave her here.</em>
</p>
<p>“Go away,” Loki hissed.</p>
<p>
  <em>It’s just a child. Why do you care so much?</em>
</p>
<p>“Leave me alone,” Loki said, a little louder to assert himself over himself. He put his hands on his head and squeezed hard. He snapped his eyes shut and concentrated, focusing all his mental power on pushing the voice as deep down into his subconscious as possible.</p>
<p>
  <em>She’ll die. Take it as a blessing. What would we do with a child anyways?</em>
</p>
<p>Loki shook his head. He wasn’t listening.</p>
<p>
  <em>Or… we could put her out of her misery. That’s all she’s ever felt anyways. She wouldn’t know the difference. It would be merciful. We would be her savior.</em>
</p>
<p>Loki felt sick to his stomach. “No,” he whined, squeezing harder to make the voice go away.</p>
<p>
  <em>Or have you gone soft?</em>
</p>
<p>Loki opened his eyes, indignantly. “I am not soft,” he said, strongly, his eyes darkening.</p>
<p>
  <em>Prove it.</em>
</p>
<p>Loki conjured his dagger and turned back towards the sleeping Kuna. His breath came heard, like avalanches of cold air. He squeezed the handle of the blade. Kuna’s back rose and fell with her breathing. They were long and drawn out. She was peaceful.</p>
<p>
  <em>We’ll make it quick. She won’t feel it.</em>
</p>
<p>Loki took a step forward and then withdrew hard, reeling back and slamming against a diamond pillar. He gripped the dagger so hard that he felt the pain of his burn beginning to radiate up his arm again. He dropped it at the pain, and it fell with a thud on the cavern floor, filling the hall with a dull echo. His attention snapped back to the sleeping girl. Her face contorted with the disturbance, but she continued sleeping.</p>
<p>Loki shook his head maniacally, trying to shake the voice out of his ears.</p>
<p><em>You’re weak</em>, it said.</p>
<p>He smashed his hands against his ears and quickly stalked back towards the ice room. The candlelight followed its master, floating lazily above his head. He wanted to scream but he knew its echoes would wake the girl.</p>
<p>
  <em>You’re pathetic! You couldn’t kill your ridiculous brother and now you can’t even kill a child? What kind of a warrior king are you?</em>
</p>
<p>“<em>I</em> am a remorseless assassin,” Loki said through gritted teeth. “A king doesn’t kill needlessly.”</p>
<p><em>Odin does,</em> it mocked him.</p>
<p>“Argh!” Loki picked up a piece of ice and threw it has hard as he could. It collided with the wall and shattered, sending strange, otherworldly echoes through the chamber.</p>
<p>
  <em>How impressive. Just like the ‘Mighty Thor’.</em>
</p>
<p>“Shut up. Shut up. Shut up!” Loki said, pacing back and forth with his hands on his ears. Ice melted from his hand, down his wrist and under his armored bracer. He pulled his hand away from his head and looked at it.</p>
<p>The cold snow felt good on the burn. He walked to the wall and placed his hand on it. His hand  was still blue. He turned his head away so he didn’t have to look at it. Despite the disdain he felt for the color of his skin, he liked the feeling of the ice on it. It brought him to a calmer state. He’d always felt comfort from the cold. It was only until recently that he knew why.</p>
<p><em>Little baby frost giant,</em> the voice mocked him again.</p>
<p>“Ugh,” Loki crouched and then flopped onto his back, his legs splayed across the ground. He closed his eyes and imagined himself in his mind grabbing the voice by the throat and shoving it back into the pit he had dug for it long ago.</p>
<p><em>So angry,</em> it teased from the hole as he locked it in again with an imaginary heavy metal lid.</p>
<p>He sighed heavily. The muscles in his jaw tightened and released. He tried to distract himself again from the voice. He thought about the two larger planets that he had seen looming in the sky when they arrived. One was gaseous, clearly not habitable, but the other looked life sustaining. Loki remembered seeing water on it and land too.</p>
<p>He opened his eyes, staring up at the ceiling, he noticed a small hole in its surface. That must have been how this room stayed so icy compared to the one next to it. The more habitable planet was blocking most of the hole. He could just make out webs of electric light on the planet’s surface. Civilized life. As his eyes focused on the hospitable planet, he caught a few flickering tendrils of a corona peeking out from behind it.</p>
<p>“Ah,” he breathed. It made sense now. This planet was blocked by an eternal chthonic eclipse created by the other planet orbiting between this one and their sun. Their orbits must have mirrored each other so perfectly that this planet rarely saw any sunlight, hence the snowy dessert outside. He closed his eyes again and concentrated deeply.</p>
<p>Far, far beneath him, he could feel the roiling chaos of an incredibly active and angry subterranean volcanic core. He let out a soft chuckle at the irony. This volcano likely made up the whole planet, and probably had the power to destroy it. Yet, its unfortunate orbit kept the planet’s surface in a deep freeze, effectively capping the volcano, forcing it to become dormant.</p>
<p>“I will bury you, like that planet buried this volcano,” he told the voice in his head. He said it aloud too, for good measure, ensuring the voice knew he was serious.</p>
<p>“Loki?” he heard a soft, exasperated cry from within the other room and was on his feet in seconds, making his way back through the tunnel to Kuna. The candlelight lazily followed him back again, illuminating the room and revealing a terrified and crying Kuna.</p>
<p>She sniffled hard and struggled even to cry through the spasms of her lungs. She thought Loki had left her. Left her there to die. He wouldn’t do that. He couldn’t! He’d be breaking a pinky swear and that was the worst crime in the whole entire universe.</p>
<p>When he reappeared in the cave and the light followed him in again, she was surprised, relieved, and scared all at once. Being left alone in the dark terrified her immensely because it reminded her of being locked in the box when she had misbehaved or angered one of her masters. She did not like the dark.</p>
<p>“I – I – I thought – you – left me!” she said between sobs.</p>
<p>“No, no. I’m right here, aren’t I?” he said, softly, kneeling next to her. “That would mean I’d break my promise. And that would be really bad. Like universally, cosmically, magically bad.”</p>
<p>She wept and grabbed at his coat, putting her head on his chest and sobbed. Loki was not quite sure what to do. If he touched her, would she jump? He gingerly lowered his hand onto her back. She flinched out of habit but did not pull away. He gently rubbed her back until she began to calm down.</p>
<p>“I just went into the other room and put some ice on my hand,” he explained. He felt a distant tremor in the depths of his mind, as the voice smashed into the heavy metal lid of the pit he had locked him in, reminding him of the real reason he had gone in there. He shook his head a little. It was easier now to shake away the feeling when the voice was locked away.</p>
<p>“See. Look,” he went on. “It already feels much better.” He showed her his hand.</p>
<p>She wiped away her tears with her hands and looked. His hand was blue, like the ice they had walked through. She could still see the darkened, wrinkles of the burn but it looked as if it had nearly healed. And it had. The ice seemed to magically revive his injured hand. That and his increased healing factor.</p>
<p>She sniffled again. A couple tears fell from her eyes and landed on Loki’s palm. She rubbed her face again to remove any more tears that wanted to fall. She reached to take his hand but he pulled away. She looked up at him. His eyes were crimson and his skin that haunting blue color. He had markings that wound across his forehead and face. She cocked her head to one side.</p>
<p>“Why are you blue now?” she asked, weakly.</p>
<p>“Um, it’s - it’s a long story,” Loki said. “It should go away soon, I think. I should go back to normal. I’m sorry my visage scared you.”</p>
<p>“I’m not scare of you, Loki,” she said, sniffling. “I was worried about you.”</p>
<p>“You don’t have to worry about me,” he said, giving her a little smile. “I’m not going to leave you here.”</p>
<p>He raised his hand to the back of the girl’s head and gently patted it. She put her head back down on his shoulder and relaxed. He could feel her heartbeat. It was weak. Her breath came short with long intervals in between. She was dying. From her bodily weakness, from the accidental alcohol poisoning, from the jumps, from the cold and the fall, and likely, from whatever pain using the magic had caused her.</p>
<p>Loki looked around the room, trying to come up with a plan to save the little girl who had saved him. His eyes landed wearily on the fallen dagger at the foot of the diamond column. He looked away and held the dying child in his arms.</p>
<p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Let me know in the comments if you like the pacing of the story thus far. Is it too fast? Too slow? Also if you like the chapter length. Too long? Too short? When I write it feels like they're super long but once I whack them into AO3, they look pretty short. Just trying to get an idea of how the story feels so far from you wonderful readers!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Healing</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A heavy feeling of dread began to fall over Loki. He had no idea how he would save Kuna. He had no food for her. He supposed he could melt some snow and ice for water, but he would need a container to put it in. He sat down cross-legged and concentrated his seidr on his pocketverse. He was sure he must have saved a pot or pan or bowl or something over the centuries and tucked it away in there. He imagined a pot in his mind, focusing hard on the thought.</p>
<p>            Before him, a gold-plated but dented pan appeared in his hands. He chuckled as he remembered why he had hidden this Asgardian dish in his pocket. Nearly a thousand years ago, when he and Thor were children themselves, they had been playing around in the palace near the kitchens.</p>
<p>The chefs and servants hated them being down there because they were always causing a ruckus. One particular cook despised Loki. She hated Loki more because he would pinch apple tarts fresh off the trays and Thor would tattle on him. She would chase Loki away, wielding this, her favorite cooking pan, and Thor would get an apple tart as a treat for telling on him.</p>
<p>            He remembered one day, he and Thor were messing around in the kitchens again and being chased by old Igassok – Loki called her ‘Iggy’ and she hated it. She had seen Loki, not Thor, which is why she was following after him, thinking he was down there stealing again.</p>
<p>The brothers both hid in the washroom, behind some barrels holding soap powders and water. Despite her obvious hatred for Loki, they both thought that being chased by her was a fun game. Like being chased by some hulking frost giant with a great club.</p>
<p>She burst into the washroom. The two boys flattened out against the floor behind the barrels. Her heavy footsteps crossed the room. Loki could see her shadow on the floor in the light of the doorway. She walked up to the great washbasin which was filled to the brim with dirty water and dishes.</p>
<p>“Hmm,” she muttered. “Must be seeing things.”</p>
<p>She turned and left the room. They could hear her asking the other servants outside if they’d seen anything. Thor had gotten them all flogged so many times for tattling to father whenever he caught them stealing some of the Palace’s food, that they wouldn’t tell Iggy anything against either of the princes, even if she smacked them upside the head with her pan.</p>
<p>The princes let out their breath and laughed at the old woman as her voice faded away into the next room. Now stuck in the washroom for at least a few minutes while Iggy did a lap around the kitchens, they stared at each other.</p>
<p>“What now?” Loki asked Thor.</p>
<p>He shook his head. “Don’t know.” Looking around, his eyes landed on the pile of dishes above them. Thor smiled at his brother.</p>
<p>“Truth or dare?”</p>
<p>Loki smiled back. “Sure.”</p>
<p>“You first,” Thor said.</p>
<p>Loki was taken aback. His brother never let him go first at anything.</p>
<p>“Truth,” he said, cautiously.</p>
<p>“Why are you so scared of Iggy?”</p>
<p>“That’s easy! She beats me with her pan all the time and father never believes me!”</p>
<p>“You’re just a baby,” Thor teased and quickly followed with, “Okay, my turn. Dare.”</p>
<p>“I am not a baby,” Loki said. “That thing is made of celestial copper! It hurts! She’s already put a dent in it with my head. I still have the bump, look!” He tried to show his brother.</p>
<p>“Whatever,” Thor said, flippantly. “Dare me.”</p>
<p>“Um,” Loki looked around, trying to think of something mean to dare his brother to do to get back at him. He smiled, cunningly. “Fine, then,” he said. “I dare you to steal Iggy’s pan.”</p>
<p>Thor gasped and then smiled dastardly, happily taking up the dare to rob that old hag. Loki grinned. If Thor pulled it off, he would have done something bad and Loki could tell mother on him. That would get him in trouble for sure. On top of it, Iggy wouldn’t have that old pan to beat him with anymore.</p>
<p>“I accept,” Thor said, haughtily.</p>
<p>“Alright, then. Go get it.”</p>
<p>“Fine, I will.”</p>
<p>“Fine, I’ll be in my room.”</p>
<p>“Fine.”</p>
<p>“Fine.”</p>
<p>They both snuck out of the room. Loki made a beeline for then nearest exit while Thor made his way through the kitchen after Iggy. Loki had no doubt that his brother would get the pan. He had his ways of convincing people to do what he wanted. Loki was going to sit and wait for his plan to take effect.</p>
<p>Half an hour later, Thor returned to their room with the pan.</p>
<p>“See,” he said, showing Loki. “I told you.”</p>
<p>“Well done,” Loki said, taking it from him.</p>
<p>Thor grinned at him and then bolted out the door, flying down the hallway.</p>
<p>“Father! Father! Loki stole Iggasok’s pan from the kitchens!” he screamed as he fled down the hallway.</p>
<p>Loki panicked. He looked around the room for a place to hide the pan. Maybe, if father couldn’t find the evidence, he would abandon any punishment he could think of for his youngest son. Loki scrambled around the room, testing the best hiding spots but found nothing good enough.</p>
<p>Then, he remembered his mother teaching him about pocketverses. She had only shown him once how to do it. He had had trouble accessing the pocket ever since. After becoming frustrated with it, he just abandoned it. But now, he needed it more than ever. No one, not even the Allfather, could access someone else’s pocketverse. This was his answer, but he was running out of time.</p>
<p>It wouldn’t take long for Thor to reach the court chambers and rouse their father from some meeting with dusty, old men to punish Loki. He plopped down on the floor, pan in hand, and thought with all his might for it to disappear. He moved his hands in the circular motion mother had showed him, but it didn’t work.</p>
<p>Panicking, he tried again and again. He could hear footsteps approaching the doorway. He knew telling the truth would not save him. The truth meant telling father they were down in the kitchens where they should not have been, antagonizing Iggy. The truth meant telling father they were playing some silly game instead of studying or sparring in the courtyard. The truth meant telling father that Loki had tried to get Thor in trouble.</p>
<p>He concentrated as hard as he could, squeezing his eyes shut.</p>
<p>“Go away, go away,” he muttered, making the circular gesture over and over again.</p>
<p>“Loki?” Odin called from the doorway.</p>
<p>His eyes opened. The pan was gone. It wasn’t in his lap anymore. He looked up at his father. Thor was standing by his side, beaming.</p>
<p>“Yes, father?” Loki said, trying to act calm.</p>
<p>“Were you down in the kitchens?” he asked, gruffly. “Did you steal Iggasok’s pan?”</p>
<p>“No, father. I’ve been in here all afternoon…” he said, trying to act as innocent as possible. “I’ve been reading.”</p>
<p>“Is that so?” his father asked, raising the brow above his golden eyepatch.</p>
<p>“Yes, sire. I’ve been reading about dragons today. Did you know that thousands of planet systems have dragons?” he stalled. “And - and there are hundreds, if not thousands, of different species on each planet? That has to be billions of types of dragons all over the universe!”</p>
<p>“Mmm, yes, I suppose so,” Odin muttered. He wasn’t listening to him. Loki watched as his icy, blue eye searched the room. He walked in and passed Loki on the floor. He opened the hamper and looked inside but found nothing. “Where’s your book?” he asked, continuing to interrogate Loki.</p>
<p>“Oh, it’s over here,” Loki said. Thankfully, it wasn’t a complete lie. He loved reading <em>The Natural History of Dragons</em>. It was one of his favorites. He picked it up from the bedside table and brought it to his father.</p>
<p>Odin took it from him and flipped through the pages, but he wasn’t looking at them. He was looking for another place Loki could have hidden the stolen pan. Thor was pretending to play with his toy warriors in the corner.</p>
<p>Odin closed the book and shoved it into Loki’s chest, striding over to the box where they put their toys. Thor looked pleased. He caught Loki’s eyes as their father’s back was turned and stuck out his tongue at him. Loki made an ugly face back at him.</p>
<p>“Loki,” his mother said from the doorway. Her sudden appearance made him jump. Odin straightened up from the toybox, letting the lid fall. “Don’t make faces at your brother,” she said. It wasn’t much of a scold as a reminder.</p>
<p>“Sorry, mother,” Loki said, looking down at his feet.</p>
<p>“Did you lose something in the toybox, my love?” she addressed Odin. He turned and looked at her, weighing his own options. Did he risk antagonizing a mother’s wrath for such a minor fault of Loki’s or simply drop the subject?</p>
<p>“Mmm, no,” he grumbled and walked by, striding out the door to return to his business. Thor’s jaw dropped in bewilderment at his father’s quick abandonment of Loki’s juryless trial and sweet punishment.</p>
<p>“Thor, darling, close your mouth. It’s not very princely of you,” Frigga said with smirk at her eldest son. She looked down at Loki and winked at him. He looked back at Thor and grinned. It felt so good to see Thor’s plan be thwarted. And even if Loki’s hadn’t gone exactly as planned, he had still silently won this round against his brother.</p>
<p>Loki chuckled to himself as he stared at the pan in his hands in the diamond cave. The fondness of the memory was quickly overtaken by a hollow feeling in Loki’s chest. Now, his brother and father wanted nothing to do but kill him or lock him away. And he would probably never see his mother again.</p>
<p>He shook his head and stood, pan in hand. He looked down at Kuna. He hoped he could quickly get outside and back again without her waking. He waved his hand at the candlelight above, commanding it to stay put this time as he walked through the passageway. He dipped the pan into the snow that had built up nearest the entrance. He didn’t dare try to go out into the open again, lest those snowmen still be guarding the entrance. Taking a small handful of snow for himself, he tasted it, ensuring that there was a zero percent alcohol content this time.</p>
<p>Satisfied, he returned to Kuna. He sat a few meters away from her and put the pan on the floor. The snow began to melt immediately from the warmth of the floor, but Loki would have preferred to boil it first. He conjured up some old linens and pieces of blank parchment from his pocket and built a small fire, this time without blowing himself up in the process.</p>
<p>Once the fire was crackling, he set the pan over it, careful not to snuff it out. He stared into the flames for a while as he waited for the water to boil. He glanced over at Kuna. Rising to his feet, he carefully picked her up and brought her closer to the fire.</p>
<p>She did not wake this time. He watched her chest. There was no movement for a moment and Loki felt a pang of panic and then guilt. Then, her chest rose in a long but shallow breath. She did not have much time. He concentrated once more and tried to summon any sort of food from his pocket, but his hands came up empty.</p>
<p>He dropped his hands in his lap. How was he going to nurse her back to health without any food? He closed his eyes. He needed something to heal her but he had nothing. He was not trained in healing magic, relying more on potions and ingredients or his healing factor for himself in the past. As he sat there, thinking, he felt something cool fall into his hands and opened his eyes. The bottle of blood he had extracted from the kapka on Torileena glinted in his hands.</p>
<p>“That’s it!” he said and flinched, covering his mouth with his hand and looking at Kuna. She did not stir. He sighed, relieved.</p>
<p>He conjured his alembic, a mortar and pestle, and the kapka claws he had taken as well. Kuna’s moron masters had said they could both be used to create healing potions. Loki just had to make a refined composite of the two.</p>
<p>The water was boiling now. He took it from the fire and set it aside to cool. He poured the blood into the alembic and set it on its stand. Using the mortar and pestle, he ground the claws into a powder. For good measure, he conjured up some hawk feathers he had plucked from a very angry mother hawk and placed them in the mortar to grind in with them. The feathers were well known throughout the Realms for their healing properties.</p>
<p>He added the powder to the alembic with a small amount of water and attached the tube to it, angling it into another small vial to catch the composite. He waited. Slowly, the mixture began to bubble in the green glass base. It turned a rather gross shade of yellow. The vapors traveled up the spout and condensed in the bulb above it. The little droplets traveled down the tube and began to fill the container with the newly distilled mixture.</p>
<p>When the vial was full and all the mixture had been distilled, he took it over to Kuna. Gently propping up her head in his hand, he tried to wake her to drink the potion.</p>
<p>“Kuna,” he spoke softly. “Kuna?” Her eyes opened a little. “Here, I need you to drink this, it will make you feel better. No alcohol this time… I hope,” he added.</p>
<p>He tipped the vial to her lips and she drank from it. She swallowed a bit and made a sour face, pushing the vial away. It tasted awful; like rotten meat.</p>
<p>“I know it doesn’t taste very good, but you have to drink all of it.” Loki coaxed her with it again. She frowned but gave in and drank the rest in one big gulp.</p>
<p>“Agh!” Kuna gagged on the liquid but swallowed hard. Her whole body shuddered at the horrible taste. She tried not to heave. She did <em>not</em> want to get sick again. She closed her eyes and waited for the sensation to pass.</p>
<p>She felt a warmth begin to emanate through her body from her tummy. She closed her eyes and concentrated on this strange feeling. It traveled up from her chest, down her arms to her fingers and down from heart to her legs then toes. It felt good. Really good. Like she was being hugged by golden light.</p>
<p>“Mmm,” she breathed. A smile spread across her face. She did not want the feeling to stop.</p>
<p>“How do you feel, Kuna?” Loki asked her. He had been watching her, studying her for any signs of a negative reaction.</p>
<p>“I feel really, really good,” she said, slowly. Her eyes were still closed. Loki couldn’t help but smile back.</p>
<p>“Good,” he said. He was relieved.</p>
<p>“What was that?” Kuna asked. “It tasted really bad.”</p>
<p>“I’m sorry about the taste,” Loki replied. “Do you remember the kapka blood and claws I took from Torileena?”</p>
<p>Kuna gasped. “Are you a maker?”</p>
<p>“Uh. Um. I don’t know what that is. But I do have some skill as an alchemist. I just mixed up a little potion to heal you. I’m glad it worked so well.”</p>
<p>“Woah,” she said, quietly. No maker had ever paid any mind to her. “Thank you, sir.”</p>
<p>“Kuna, you don’t have to call me ‘sir’, remember? You can call me Loki.”</p>
<p>She smiled and looked down at her hands. Loki moved closer to her. He wanted to see if the bruises and cuts on her arms had healed as well. Out of habit, her body tensed. “May I see?” he asked, softly.</p>
<p>Her eyes darted around, unsure of what he meant. He gently took her arm and looked at the place where the chains had dug into her skin. The potion did seem to heal her wounds. The bruises had turned brown and yellow from the deep purples and blues they had been before. The cuts were scabbed and nearly healed. Even the chafing around her neck and wrists and ankles had diminished. He smiled at his work.</p>
<p>“Do these feel better?” he asked her, still examining them. He saw a small, silver scar peeking out of the top of the back of her shirt. He went to pull it down but she tore away.</p>
<p>“Y- Yes, si--, I mean, Loki. They feel b—better,” she stammered.</p>
<p>He turned his head. “Kuna, are you hurt somewhere else? Can I take off your shirt to see?”</p>
<p>She shook her head hard. “No, no, please, Loki,” she said, hugging herself and pulling her shirt over her knees and legs.</p>
<p>“Alright, alright, I won’t. You’re sure you’re not hurt?”</p>
<p>“No, sir. I’m not. I feel so much better. I’ve never felt this good before.”</p>
<p>“Well, alright, then,” he said. He was concerned about these scars he had seen but he did not want to push her. She was terrified of him still, he could see that. And why shouldn’t she be? She may not have seen it but he had been very close to killing her only a few hours prior.</p>
<p>“Well, why don’t you lie down and sleep for a while. You’ll need rest while that potion takes its full effect.”</p>
<p>“It gets better?” she asked in amazement.</p>
<p>Loki chuckled. “Yes, it does. Now, lay down.”</p>
<p>He conjured up another blanket for her and gave it to her. She made herself comfortable by the fire, curling up like a dog. She was nearly asleep when the wind howled loudly against the outside of the cave, creating horrifying, ghoulish echoes in the cavern. She jumped and ran over to Loki, curling up beside his leg.</p>
<p>He scooted over a little. “It’s fine,” he said, dismissively. “It’s just the wind outside.”</p>
<p>“Not the snowmen?”</p>
<p>“No, not the snowmen. At least, I don’t think so,” he replied.</p>
<p>Kuna was terrified. She looked up at Loki, wondering if he really thought it was the snowmen back to get them. He was no longer blue like he was before. His skin had returned to its normal, pale color.</p>
<p>“Loki?”</p>
<p>“Yes?”</p>
<p>“Why were you blue before?”</p>
<p>Loki’s expression fell flat. He did not wish to answer this question. It had taken him hours to completely shut out the voice in his head. He had built a brick wall around the locked pit in his mind to keep him in and now he could hear the echoes of his laugh once more.</p>
<p>“It’s no business of yours,” he said, gruffly.</p>
<p>“Oh,” Kuna flinched at his tone. “I’m sorry, Loki. I—I,” she trailed off. She didn’t mean to upset him.</p>
<p>She made herself comfortable beside him. He had moved a foot or so away from her but his proximity made her feel safer. She wrapped herself up in the blanket and fell asleep.</p>
<p>Loki looked down at his hands. He should not have spoken to her that way. It wasn’t her fault. He should have been thanking her. If it weren’t for her, he’d probably been killed by the snowmen.</p>
<p>He was perplexed by her. He could still feel her magic in his own aura. He knew she had magic but she had been quick to dismiss it before. However, the spell she had used to destroy the snowmen was certainly powerful. Her reaction to it was what puzzled him the most. The painful howl that came from her still echoed in his ears.</p>
<p>In young ones her age, magic could manifest itself in strange ways, like making objects move without touching them; finding things you thought you’d lost; making things disappear and reappear without trying; those sorts of things. But what she had exhibited was far more powerful than simple parlor magic.</p>
<p>            His mother had been quick to notice Loki’s aptitude early on and helped him foster his abilities using seidr. Thor had had some aptitude with magic too, but Odin had seen that his abilities would be better concentrated with the use of an enchanted weapon. Thus, he had the dwarves forge Mjölnir for him for when he came of age.</p>
<p>            Loki, on the other hand, trained with his mother and learned to control his abilities and focus them with seidr - a magical system of spells, runes, and incantations - that allowed Loki the ability to have full mastery of his powers. He preferred seidr to weapons-based magic. The weapons were nice and all, but he preferred the flexibility of seidr. He did not have to have some fancy weapon to control his powers. He could use them whenever and wherever he wanted.</p>
<p>            Frigga had tried to teach Thor in seidr, but he had no interest in it. He spent those lessons swinging his enchanted toy hammer around, electrifying the air and making his and his mother’s hair stand up straight. Eventually, Frigga gave up and let Odin teach Thor with the hammer and focused her lessons on Loki. He had loved those lessons. Just him and his mother practicing magic together.</p>
<p>            Loki dozed a little, leaning back against the wall of the cave. He would wake for a moment, ensure Kuna was alright and that they were still alone, before dozing off again. After several hours, Kuna began to stir. She sat up in her blanket and yawned.</p>
<p>            “How do you feel?” Loki asked, half-expecting her to be hungover.</p>
<p>            “I feel good,” she said. She seemed confused and surprised. “I feel really good.”</p>
<p>            “Hmm,” Loki said, impressed by her resilience and his alchemical prowess. “Good,” he added. He made a mental note that kapka blood mixed with its claws and hawk feathers cured hangovers as well as made a decent healing potion.</p>
<p>            Kuna looked around at the diamond cave. She liked how the walls and columns sparkled in the firelight. The shadows of the crystalline stalactites and stalagmites danced on the walls. Loki followed her gaze.</p>
<p>            “Pretty incredible, huh?” he said. She nodded in awe.</p>
<p>            “Does this mean we’re rich?” she asked and then corrected herself, “I – I mean does this mean <em>you’re</em> rich?”</p>
<p>            Loki considered her question. He hadn’t really thought about it. On Asgard, and many of the other Nine Realms, diamonds were so abundant, they were hardly considered valuable. Only the stupidest of Midgardians had fallen for their people’s own ploy of giving them a price beyond their true value.</p>
<p>            “Do you think they’re worth something?” he asked her.</p>
<p>            She stared at him in consternation. Who would think that diamonds weren’t valuable? Was she wrong? Was it a trick question?</p>
<p>            “Well…” she said. “I think they are. Master Machaluci said his was the biggest in the whole universe. He put it in his chest, right here,” – she pointed at a spot below the collar on her neck to show him – “so everyone would see it and know that he was richer than them.”</p>
<p>            Loki chuckled a little. It sounded like her home-system was made up with beings a lot like the Midgardians he had come to despise.</p>
<p>            “Was he wrong?” she asked.</p>
<p>            “Well, I guess it depends on how your world, or worlds, rather, were formed,” he explained. “Where I come from, diamonds are like little pebbles on the street. They’re everywhere. On some of the other realms, they’ve been buried for a few million years but their perfectly discoverable with good equipment. I suppose we could take a few of these and jump to the next world to find out.”</p>
<p>            Kuna felt sick to her stomach at the thought of doing that again. Upon thinking of her stomach, it growled ferociously. The pains of hunger fled through her body. She wanted to fall over. She put her hands on her tummy and groaned.</p>
<p>            “I could get you something to eat there,” Loki said. “It won’t be a big jump, I promise. We can see the planet from outside.”</p>
<p>            “Really?” she asked.</p>
<p>            “Mmm hmm,” he said, nodding.</p>
<p>He stood and walked over to a low hanging stalactite. He inhaled through his nose and blew out hard through his mouth and struck the diamond with the butt of his palm. A crack burst through the diamond and a chunk twice the size of his head fell away with a thud that echoed around the room.</p>
<p>            Kuna was in awe at Loki’s strength. He picked up the chunk of diamond and made it disappear. Kuna’s eyes widened. He had done that magic before. He smirked at her.</p>
<p>            “Come on. Let’s get out of here. I despise snow planets” he said.</p>
<p>She hopped to her feet. She was no longer dizzy or tired. She thought this was the best she had felt in her whole life. Loki picked up the blanket and stored it away. Stamping out the fire, he cast another candlelight into the air, and it followed them as they walked.</p>
<p>“If it turns out the people on the next planet over think this is the most valuable thing in the world, we know where to come back,” he explained. Kuna trotted along beside him. They stopped in the icy room.              </p>
<p>“Look up there,” Loki said, pointing at the hole in the ceiling. “See that planet up there? See the little lights on it? That means there are civilized people there.”</p>
<p>“Oh.”</p>
<p>“Well,” Loki added. “Civilized enough to have harnessed electricity for themselves. The Midgardians have only just done that, and I would hardly call them civilized.”</p>
<p>Kuna had no idea what he was talking about, but he sounded like he knew what he was talking about, so she just nodded. He looked down at her.</p>
<p>“Ready?”</p>
<p>She grabbed his leg and held on tight.</p>
<p>“Good, we’ll do it from in here. I don’t think either of us want to go back outside with those snowmen,” he said. Kuna shook her head. That was the last thing she wanted to do.</p>
<p>Loki concentrated on the tesseract’s energy, “Do what I want this time,” he said, aloud.</p>
<p>Kuna heard him and looked up, confused. Had she not done something right? He didn’t look at her. Clouds of blue vapor swirled around them and they disappeared.</p>
<p>Reappearing on the other side, it was dark there too. Loki looked up at the sky and laughed.</p>
<p>“Ha!” he laughed. “Look at that! See? There’s the snowball planet.” He pointed at a place in the sky. Kuna followed the end of his finger with her eyes. It was hard for her to see it immediately but when her eyes focused, she could just make out a perfectly circular orb hovering in front of the stars. It was completely dark and the only way she knew it was there was from how it blocked out the stars behind it.</p>
<p>She looked back up at Loki. She was still a little disturbed by his comment. “Did—” she hesitated to ask, fearing his reaction. “Did I do something wrong?”</p>
<p>“Hmm?” Loki asked, looking down at her. “Oh! No, no. I wasn’t talking to you. Don’t worry.”</p>
<p>Kuna was a little worried. Who else was he speaking too? She was the only one with him, right?</p>
<p>Loki looked up again. “Ah! Look there,” he pointed. “A city.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Diamonds</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The city was bustling with activity. Kuna stared in wonderment at all the beings around her. Some had beautiful, brightly colored skin, others had tails and pointy ears, others still were covered in long, thick feathers like birds. Some beings were gigantic, standing a few meters above their heads, some normal sized (or what she thought was normal), and some were quite small.</p>
<p>            “This looks to be a rather advanced civilization,” Loki observed, as they moved through the crowds. “Looks like they’ve at least made contact with their stellar neighborhood groups, if not further afield,” he continued, as a rather stunning Xandarian walked by. He watched him walk by and raised a brow and winked at him as he passed, checking out his rather lovely rear end. Beside him, Kuna tripped and fell, breaking Loki’s gaze. She crawled to her feet.</p>
<p>On the ground, a small, indigenous Sakaaran rolled onto his back. The insect-like being struggled to turn over and get up from the hard shell encasing his body. Kuna leaned over and took one of his four hands and helped him up.</p>
<p>            “I – I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t mean to knock you over. Are you alright, sir? I’m – I’m so so sorry, sir,” Kuna stuttered. The bug brushed himself off and shook his head.</p>
<p>            “You should watch where you’re going,” Loki said. Kuna looked up at him, worried that he was angry with her. “You might get stepped on, sir,” he added with a sneer at the Sakaaran.</p>
<p>            The little creature started cursing at him and Kuna in every language under the many suns, making all sorts of likely obscene gestures with his four hands. Loki covered Kuna’s ears and they moved on. Kuna took Loki’s hand to stay close to him. There were so many people, she was afraid of losing him in the crowd. He did not like her hanging on him in this way but thought there was little choice he had.</p>
<p>            A bazaar was set up in the center of the bustling city. There were vendors from all over the galaxy. Suddenly fearing he might be recognized with all these migrant beings around, Loki conjured a dark hood for himself and pulled it over his head. He pulled up a cowl to cover his mouth as well, just for good measure.</p>
<p>            Kuna looked around in amazement. She had never been to a market like this before. The only markets she ever saw were the slave markets in her home-system and they were nothing like this. Her nose filled with all sorts of new and exciting smells wafting through the open-air market stalls. Her eyes widened, taking in all the pretty colors and people and objects around her.</p>
<p>            As they passed by a row of grills, flames shot up from sizzling skillets as chefs tossed them, sending the food they cooked flipping into the air. Kuna could smell all the spices they were using. It smelled so hot, it nearly made her eyes water. Meat hung from hooks in some stalls, in others, piles and piles of fish stood in little baskets. Some had buckets filled with water that had live creatures in them. Customers stood by picking out their next meals from the buckets and hooks and baskets.</p>
<p>Other shops had mountains of colorful fruit and vegetables all ordered by color and shape. She did not recognize very many of the fruits or vegetables, but they all looked delicious and she remembered her aching tummy. To distract herself from the glorious food all around her, she looked at another stall selling fine clothing. Some of it was like nothing she had ever seen. Shiny metal and leather, woven together like fabric. Other stalls sold weapons; swords and axes, guns and blasters, pikes and rocket launchers.</p>
<p>            One side of the bazaar held pens filled with strange looking animals. Animals with long necks and legs. Animals that walked on their front paws instead of all four. Animals that had six and eight limbs. Kuna stared at them. She could barely keep up with Loki as he led her through the stalls and vendors.</p>
<p>Kuna thought this market had everything. Except, there were no slaves anywhere, at least not that she could see. A sudden, sinking feeling washed over her. What if Loki had brought her here to sell her? What if he was going to give her to someone for more money? Terror filled her all the way up and her eyes started to water.</p>
<p>            As they walked through the market, Loki heard Kuna let out a sniffle. Was she crying again? He looked down at her.</p>
<p>            “Are you alright?” he asked. “I know, it’s probably a lot for you to take in.”</p>
<p>            She looked up at him, her eyes big and glistening. “Are you going to sell me?” she burst out, not able to hold it in any longer.</p>
<p>            “What? No!” Loki said, kneeling to her level. “Why would I do something like that?” he asked. He could see she was truly bothered by the thought of him selling her. Tears rolled off her cheeks in rivers. “No, I’m not going to sell you, Kuna,” he said. “You’re not a slave anymore. No one owns you.”</p>
<p>            Kuna was relieved but she couldn’t stop crying. She put her face in Loki’s chest. He looked around, trying to find something that would make her stop crying. His eyes landed on a vendor stall selling children’s toys. He walked her over to it and studied the table. She sniffled, her gaze falling on the table as well.</p>
<p>“Look at these,” he said, pointing to the toys. “Choose whatever you like.”</p>
<p>            It was covered with toys from all over the galaxy. Stuffed toys, wooden toys, plastic toys; toys that talked, toys that walked, even toys that sang. Loki hoped she didn’t choose one of the singing ones.</p>
<p>“Really?” she asked.</p>
<p>“Yes,” he assured her. She apprehensively stepped up on the stool provided by the shopkeeper for little ones to find their new toy.</p>
<p> “Look, there’s all kinds,” Loki said, though he could see she was overwhelmed by it all. “Um, look. There is a little groot and that, there, is a sporr. Oh, and look,” he pointed at a small stuffed dragon. “This is called a fin fang foom – they’re like dragons. They come from a planet very far away from here.”</p>
<p>She struggled to decide on which toy she wanted. She’d never had a toy before. Maybe, she had once but that was so long ago, she’d nearly forgotten. Her eyes landed on the stuffed groot that Loki had pointed out. It was cute with big black eyes and little sewn smile. Soft moss sprouted from the top of its head. She reached for it.</p>
<p> “Do you like that one?” Loki nudged it closer to her so she could grab it.</p>
<p>She looked up at him with those big, watery eyes and nodded, hugging it to her chest.</p>
<p>“Alright,” he said. “We’ll get that one.” He turned back to the shopkeeper only to remember that they had absolutely no physical currency. “Oh, dear,” he said. The shopkeeper scowled. Loki chuckled. “If you’d be so kind, sir, we’d like to purchase this little toy, but I haven’t yet gotten any of your planet’s currency. Could you, perhaps, hold it for us while we go to your city’s bank?” He gave him a charming smile.</p>
<p>“No holds,” the shopkeeper said, gruffly.</p>
<p>“Come on, sir, look at her.”</p>
<p>The girl was cuddling the groot in her arms. The shopkeeper's eyes fell for a moment to the girl then back to the foreigner.</p>
<p>“No money. No. Holds,” the man said, banging his hand on the table with each word.</p>
<p>Loki growled, scowling at the man. He rolled his eyes and then looked back at him.</p>
<p>“Could you at least tell us what planet this is?”</p>
<p>“Tenanci’i,” the man grunted. Loki wasn’t familiar with it. It wasn’t one of the planets in the Nova Corps federation. Perhaps, it had only just been discovered by them. He remembered the hot Xandarian he had seen earlier. The Xandarian’s were explorers, they liked collecting new planets to add to their little club and any way they could stay ahead of the invasive, radical Kree, the better.</p>
<p>“Great,” Loki said, smiling again. “Where’s a jewelry store?”</p>
<p>“That way,” the man pointed.</p>
<p>“Thank you,” Loki said, politely. “Kuna, can we just leave the little groot here for a moment while we go get some money?” he asked.</p>
<p>She looked distraught. Loki crouched to be eye-level with her, putting his hand on her arm. “Remember the diamond we got?” he whispered to her. She nodded. “We need to go turn that into money so, let’s just leave the toy here with this nasty shopkeeper, and then we’ll come right back and get it.”</p>
<p>“Okay,” she said, reluctantly returning the groot to Loki. He set it on the table and gave the nasty man a stabbing look. He sometimes wished we could shoot actual daggers out of his eyes at people with a stare. He took Kuna’s hand and walked away with her. She looked back at her toy on the table and hung her head. She wondered why Loki teased her like this sometimes.</p>
<p>“Pfft,” the shopkeeper scoffed. “Tourists.”</p>
<p>“Don’t worry about him,” Loki told her, as they pushed through the crowd together. “We’ll just sell this diamond for some money and come back for it, alright?”</p>
<p>They arrived at a large storefront and stepped inside. The walls were pristine white. All around, clear cases displayed beautiful jewelry and gemstones. Loki smiled. This was perfect. He spotted a diamond ring in one of the cases. He looked at the price, but he did not recognize the currency nor the numerical figures on the card, but it was definitely a diamond. He figured that since it was behind glass, it must be valuable.</p>
<p>“Once we get some money, we’ll find a blacksmith to get those chains off you too,” he told Kuna, still looking at the ring. She looked at her hand. She had very few memories of when she did not have them on. She was not quite sure how she felt about today. Loki seemed all over the place. “And some shoes for you. And some proper clothes,” Loki continued. Kuna was amazed by him but didn’t fully trust what he said.</p>
<p>A small man walked out from a doorway behind a long counter. He was about Loki’s height. His skin was a dark blue color and his eyes were gray like clouds. His skull rose in a slanting, tapered point. “How can I help you?” he squeaked.</p>
<p>Loki pulled down his cowl and spoke to the man, “We have an item to sell. A rather precious gemstone, except it’s absolutely enormous. Would you be able to purchase such a stone?”</p>
<p>“Well I would, of course, have to examine it first.”</p>
<p>Loki turned away and then revealed the massive diamond and set it on the counter. He smirked at the shop owner whose jaw nearly hit the floor.</p>
<p>“Would you be able to purchase a diamond of this size and carat?”</p>
<p>The shop owner fumbled at a pair of glasses on his head and pulled them down shakily over his eyes. Tiny, subsequently stronger, lenses cascaded down from the frames until his glasses nearly touched the surface of the diamond. His breath was shaky as he examined the stone. He drew up quickly.</p>
<p>“Please, excuse me, sir,” the man said and ran back through the doorway behind the counter. Kuna was very confused. She could not understand a word of what was happening. Loki was speaking another language! And so was the weird, squeaky man. She gently tugged on Loki’s cape.</p>
<p>“Loki? What did he say?”</p>
<p>“Oh, right. You probably can’t understand,” he replied in her language. He flicked his hand at her. She jumped as a flicker of green light washed over her. “Now, you should be able to understand him.”</p>
<p>The squeaky man returned a moment later with a very tall woman. She stood at least two feet taller than Loki, if not more. Her hair was dark, covering her tapered skull, but her large eyes were a delicate color of snowy white. Her skin was a lighter blue color than the man’s. Her eyes widened at the sight of the diamond on the counter.</p>
<p>“Oh my,” she said, laughing a little in shock. The little man beside her hopped on the spot. He handed her the magnifying glasses and she looked.</p>
<p>Loki watched her. Glancing down at Kuna, he winked. He would have to handle this delicately in order to get away with the best possible gain. Luckily for them, Loki was a master silvertongue.</p>
<p>“We’re looking for the best price possible, of course, but certainly willing to sell,” he said.</p>
<p>The woman looked up from the diamond. “This stone is very rare,” she said, swallowing hard. “The largest we’ve ever seen is in that case there.” She pointed to the one Loki had seen a moment ago.</p>
<p>“And how much is that worth, might I ask?” Loki said, smiling. “You’ll have to excuse us, we’re not from here. Your currency is rather unknown to me.” He needed her to say the value aloud so his Allspeak could properly understand her in a language he knew.</p>
<p>“That’s currently valued at 1 billion Xandarian units,” she said.</p>
<p>Loki nearly burst out laughing. Certainly, the Xandarians did not value it at such. These people must have been in the process of switching their currency to the Xandarian unit. He kept his cool composure.</p>
<p>“Well, look at that,” he said, looking down at Kuna. “We must be trillionaires now!” Kuna’s eyes widened as she slowly looked up at Loki in absolute shock. “We could buy an infinite number of those little groot toys now!”</p>
<p>The whole room was in shock except Loki. The other customers in the shop were staring, murmuring to each other.</p>
<p>“What value would you place on this stone,” Loki asked, putting his hand on it dominantly. He looked up at the woman with a wry smile.</p>
<p>“Uh,” she breathed. “Something like this… it’s… it’s priceless. Where on Tenanci’i did you find it?</p>
<p>“Oh, well I couldn’t reveal a secret like that, could I?” he mused at her. “And if you won’t come up with a price, perhaps I should take it elsewhere…” He lifted the stone and made it disappear.</p>
<p>The whole room gasped. The woman put her hand out to stop him.</p>
<p>“No!” she cried and then regained her composure. Loki was sure she was a tactful negotiator herself when the stakes weren’t so high. He smiled at her and waited. “Wait,” she panted. “I need to make some calls to my colleagues. I’d like to have as many opinions as possible before I place a value on an item such as this.”</p>
<p>“Very well,” Loki said.</p>
<p>It did not take long for her colleagues to join them in the shop. Indeed, it was filling up rather quickly as word spread around bazaar of the strange man and little girl with the gigantic diamond. Five appraisers stood around the diamond, whispering to each other. Occasionally, one would straighten up and mutter something and another would quibble with him for a bit before they both agreed and went back to gawking at the rock.</p>
<p>“Are you really going to be that rich?” Kuna asked Loki. They had been given a seat on a couch nearby and treated with a tray of food and drink. Loki handed her some food and poured her a cup of a non-alcoholic drink. He quickly tasted it to be sure before handing it to her.</p>
<p>“<em>We</em> are going to be that rich, Kuna,” he corrected her. “And who knows,” he whispered, leaning in close to her. She leaned in too. “Maybe we can trick these idiots into giving us a little more before we’re done. Drink! Eat! Enjoy yourself for once,” he said.</p>
<p>We? She had never been a ‘we’ before. She was confused by this feeling inside her. This anticipation and excitement were overwhelming. She nibbled on some Tenanciian delicacy and drank her strange-tasting but non-alcoholic drink. It was a color she had never seen before. I vibrant shade of orangey-yellow, like honey. She thought about the toy groot and the nasty shopkeeper. She thought of his face when Loki and her returned as trillionaires and bought his whole shop. She thought about the magic he had done on her to make her understand the weird lady and man.</p>
<p>“Loki?” she asked.</p>
<p>“Mmm?” Loki said, mouth full of Tenanciian fruit.</p>
<p>“What was that magic that you did to me?”</p>
<p>“Oh, um,” he swallowed his mouthful of juicy fruit. “I just shared my Allspeak with you.”</p>
<p>“What’s ‘Allspeak’?”</p>
<p>“It’s an ability that allows me to understand other languages in my own. And it also allows other people to understand me in their own language.”</p>
<p>Kuna blinked. “But I can understand you.”</p>
<p>“Well, yes, you can but I’m not speaking your language when I talk to you. I’m speaking Asgardian but you’re understanding me in your language. What’s it called, your language?”</p>
<p>“Ardulian,”</p>
<p>“Right, Ardulian. You understand me in Ardulian because that’s your language. And they understand me in Tenanciian because that’s their language. It’s difficult to understand completely but don’t overthink it. So long as you can understand me, it works, right?”</p>
<p>“I understand, I think,” she muttered. She leaned in closer to Loki. He leaned in with her. “Why do we want to trick them into giving us more if we’re already going to be trillionaires?”</p>
<p>“Well, why not?” Loki said. “Look at this place.” He gestured to the expensive jewels in the cases. “They have plenty of wealth to go around, don’t you think? Why not… redistribute it? Into our pockets? We who have nothing.”</p>
<p>“Huh,” Kuna said, sitting back. She liked that idea.</p>
<p>Finally, after a lengthy discussion between themselves, the Tenanciian appraisers asked for Loki and Kuna to rejoin them. Outside, people lined the windows, peering in and trying to get a look at the stone. As Loki stood, a regal looking woman walked in through the door. The woman approached the counter. The appraisers bowed their heads low and made a gesture with their hands in respect.</p>
<p>The woman was immensely tall, her head nearly grazed the ceiling of the room. She was almost twice as tall as the woman from behind the counter. Her skin was snow white tinged with hints of blue falling in ambiguous stripes across her bare arms and neck. Her head rose in a near conical shape, rounded off at the top of her skull. Her eyes were the same chilling color as the other woman’s. She was digitigrade, with long, bent legs and what appeared to be hooves like a Midgardian rhino’s. With her came a posse of much smaller male beings that gathered around her legs like little puppies. They were closer to Loki’s size but still about a full head taller than him.</p>
<p>“Hello.” Loki said, politely, repeating the same gesture the others had done. “Please, forgive us for causing such a ruckus on your peaceful planet. We’re tourists.”</p>
<p>“Welcome to Tenanci’i,” the woman said down to him, she lowered herself a bit. “I am the ruler of this world. My name is Shakk’uri.”</p>
<p>Loki bowed his head in respect to her. Kuna followed his movements. “My name is…” Loki suddenly remembered how he had wanted to keep a low profile. He was doing a very poor job of it. “Eh, Lopt,” he finished, trying not to sound like he was asking a question. It was a ridiculous name his brother had once convinced him to use when they visited the ancient Midgardians.</p>
<p>Kuna looked up at him, wondering why he had given a different name to the big lady.</p>
<p>            “And who is this?” she said, looking at Kuna.</p>
<p>            “This is my… erm… companion, Kuna.”</p>
<p>            Kuna looked up at him with joy in her face. This was a very special day. She had never been a ‘we’ or a ‘companion’ and now she was both at the same time. She caught Shakk’uri’s gaze and quickly looked down, bashfully.</p>
<p>            “It is an honor to meet you, your majesty,” Kuna said, very politely in a small voice.</p>
<p>            Shakk’uri was taken by the precious child. She smiled at her. Her race’s strong, motherly instincts overcame her. She wondered about Kuna’s grimy appearance and dreadfully thin frame compared to that of Lopt.</p>
<p>            Loki could sense her concern and added quickly, “I found her in another solar system, far from here. She was being held there as a slave.” Shakk’uri gasped but Loki continued. “We’ve been traveling for a day or so now, when we arrived here on Tenanci’i. I wish to sell this jewel we discovered in our travels in order to pay for supplies for ourselves and to free Kuna from these rotten chains.”</p>
<p>            Shakk’uri was surprised by the wretched backstory of such a cute little girl. However, she was a little mistrusting of Lopt. He was charming but in a deceitful way. She lowered herself before the child.</p>
<p>            “Is this true? Are you safe with him, my love?” she asked.</p>
<p>            Kuna was surprised by the question but smiled. “Oh, yes, my lady,” she said. “He would never do anything to hurt me. I was scared of him at first but he pinky promised me he would never hurt me. Ever. And you can’t ever break those. Ever. He’s been so kind to me! No one has ever treated me this way before.” Kuna realized she was speaking far too much and looked down again.</p>
<p>            “Oh, pinky swears are serious business indeed,” she said with smile to the young child. She put her hand on Kuna’s cheek. Their race only had three long fingers that freaked Kuna out a bit, but her touch was incredibly warm. “You just make sure he keeps that promise. And if he does break it,” she said, lowering her voice so Lopt could not hear, “You can come straight back to Tenanci’i and live with me, alright?”</p>
<p>            Kuna beamed at the big lady’s enormous generosity. “Thank you, my lady, but I like Lo—pt,” she stammered but corrected herself. She stood closer to Loki, putting her arm around his knee.</p>
<p>            He looked down at her, impressed. He had feared she would blow his cover, but she was clever. He looked up again at the queen and smiled.</p>
<p>            “So,” she said, now addressing the appraisers. “What is the value that you have decided on for this most precious stone?”</p>
<p>            The woman stepped forward while the men bowed their heads and backed away in respect and a little bit of fear. Loki made note of how the men reacted to Shakk’uri’s presence and the assertiveness of the woman behind the counter. The females on Tenanci’i seemed to be running things.</p>
<p>            “We’ve estimated its value at 753 billion units, my mother,” she said.</p>
<p>            The room fell tremendously still for a moment while everyone digested the enormity of the stone’s value. Loki waited patiently for them to recover; hands folded in front of him. Soon, eyes fell to him.</p>
<p>            “What an immense value, indeed,” Loki said. He turned to the queen, “Shakk’uri, you would not know a potential buyer for such a valuable item, would you?”</p>
<p>            Her composure was calm and cool. “<em>I</em> am certainly interested in purchasing it from you, Lopt. My people have just made an alliance with the Nova Corps and, while we greatly appreciate all that they have done for us, we find their currency system very peculiar. I would like to discuss this matter further with you privately, at my hive.”</p>
<p>            “Oh, yes, of course,” he said, smiling. He returned the stone to his pocket and followed the queen and her posse out of the store.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. A Gift</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Loki and Kuna followed Shakk’uri and her entourage of small male companions to her ‘hive’. It was a beautiful palace built up in a thick dome-like structure that Loki could have interpreted as a beehive. They entered. Scampering all around them in formal attire were the darker blue colored males, skittering about with trays and pitchers in their hands, or moving linens here and there.</p><p>            When Shakk’uri entered, they all bowed so low their noses touched the ground. Loki was fascinated by the culture being displayed as was little Kuna. She looked around in awe at the palace. Golden banners swept across the ceiling and hung from balconies connecting to higher levels creating a rivers of silky, golden fabric running throughout the great halls. They entered a large, circular room. Lounging on puffy couches and chairs were a group of female Tenanciians. They were draped in light blue, loose fitting silk garments.</p><p>            The men scampered about, catering to them with trays of food and drink. Loki liked this set up. He had increased respect for the queen/mother for commanding such reverence by just entering a room.</p><p>            As they approached the circle of women in the center of the room, Loki noticed they were eating something that looked rather like sugar. He laughed internally, thinking these people were quite like bees in their mannerisms.</p><p>            She invited he and Kuna to sit upon one of the fluffy couches amongst the other women. She herself, sat on a gorgeous white marble throne cast with soft furs and pillows. The men scampered over and offered her a drink and food, but she dismissively waved them away with her hand. They then treated to Loki and Kuna. Loki took a drink and encouraged Kuna to do the same.</p><p>            “Take what you like,” he told her. “It’s polite and respectful to take food and drink that’s offered you.”</p><p>            Kuna took a cup from the man and a small piece of fruit from the tray. “Thank you, sir,” she said. The man bowed to her, then to the queen and ran off. A few giggles rang up from the women around them. Kuna shyly ate her fruit and drank.</p><p>            “This is an extraordinary hive, your majesty,” Loki said. “Am I using your proper titles? Please, correct me if I am not.”</p><p>            “You may call me Shakk’uri, if it pleases you.”</p><p>            “Very well,” Loki said, smiling. “Shall we discuss our stone then, Shakk’uri?”</p><p>            “Let my girls see it,” she said, waving to the other women. “Ladies, this was the man causing all the commotion in the market today. He has a beautiful gem to show us.”</p><p>            Loki smirked as the women sat up in their recliners, their interest piqued by the strangers before them. He revealed the diamond from his pocket. Gasps of shock and awe echoed around the room. They leaned in to get a better view of the diamond in his hands.</p><p>            “I’ve never seen anything like it,” one woman said. “Have you?”</p><p>            “No, it’s delightful,” another said.</p><p>            “It’s so big.”</p><p>            “Where did you find it?” one asked Loki.</p><p>            “Lopt, here, has declined to share that information with us,” Shakk’uri explained. “As a true negotiator would,” she added with smirk in his direction.</p><p>            The women seemed a little disappointed, slumping back in their chairs a little. Loki loved having this much control over a situation. Especially, when he could see how much it affected these women. He smiled thoughtfully at them.</p><p>            “My apologies, ladies,” he said. “But some things must be kept secret for… business related purposes. I’m sure you understand.”</p><p>            “Well, then, let’s discuss our price,” Shakk’uri said. The women sat up again; at attention now.</p><p>            “Let’s,” Loki said.</p><p>            “I will offer you 500 million Xandarian units,” Shakk’uri said. Her voice was even and stern.</p><p>            “Ooooh,” Loki said, taking the low ball as a bit of a blow. Kuna looked up at him. She could not count very high herself but Loki’s tone made it sound like Shakk’uri had bid far too low. She looked at her hands and counted on her fingers. Five was definitely less fingers than seven.</p><p>“Hmm,” Loki continued. “You see, it is my desire to learn more about your culture. You seem to be new to the Nova Corps as I’ve never heard of your planet before. Are you still transitioning to their ‘units’?”</p><p>            “Yes, we are,” Shakk’uri said.</p><p>            “Are your native monies still accepted by your people?”</p><p>            Shakk’uri was intrigued. “Yes,” she said.</p><p>            “They still hold value?”</p><p>            “Yes.”</p><p>            “Then I desire to receive payment in your currency. What’s it called?”</p><p>            “We use a coin-based currency called the Shap’ak.”</p><p>            “And what is the value of this diamond in Shap’aks?”</p><p>            The women around him looked at each other, confused. “You do realize, Mr. Lopt, that our currency cannot be used anywhere else in the galaxy?”</p><p>            “Oh yes, of course,” he said. “The Nova Corps are a wondrous little organization but - and this is between us, of course - I have little desire to switch to their currency either.”</p><p>            “And why is it that you wish to stay hidden from the Nova Corps?” Shakk’uri said. Loki knew she was clever.</p><p>            “I am simply a traveler,” Loki said. “All we wish to do is sell this rock, gather some supplies, and lay low. It is not the Nova Corps we wish to hide from, it is their enemies.” He put his hand on Kuna’s back.</p><p>            Shakk’uri looked at him and then to the small child beside him. She did not know how to read this man and she did not like how she could not. It made her feel vulnerable. She then glanced down at the child, quietly eating her snack. Perhaps, it was her captors that they were running from. Perhaps Lopt was just trying to protect her.</p><p>            “Very well,” she said. “I can offer you one trillion Shap’aks for this diamond.”</p><p>            “Three,” Loki rebounded quickly. Shakk’uri smiled. “I mean, I’m sure you have a lot of them just lying around now that you’re being registered for units.”</p><p>            “Two and a half,” she responded.</p><p>Loki considered this offer. He looked up at the dome above him. A small circular opening let in natural light and air. He took a deep breath and looked back at Shakk’uri.</p><p>“Two and a half million Shap’aks and I will let you stay in my hive for as long as you wish,” she added.</p><p>            Loki considered this new offer. He looked down at Kuna. She stared at him, cocking her head to the side. She had no idea what was going on except that the adults in the room were bidding on something. She knew a lot about bidding. That’s what all the masters did at the slave auctions. Loki gave her a little wink, then looked back at the queen.</p><p>            “I will accept this offer,” he said. The women looked relieved. They all started whispering to each other. “However, may I see your currency before we settle this?”</p><p>            “You are very inquisitive, indeed, Lopt,” she said. She waved her hand and a man skittered over. She whispered something to him, and he scampered away, returning a few moments later with a large purse.</p><p>            Shakk’uri dipped her hand into it and revealed an assortment of small golden coins. Embedded in each one was a precious jewel of a different color. Loki took a deep breath, raising his eyebrows. He had seen these being traded in the market.</p><p>            “They’re beautiful,” he said, taking a few from her hand. “Look at these, Kuna. Have you ever seen anything like them?” He offered Kuna a handful.</p><p>She stared at them in her hands. She had never held money before. Ever. She swallowed hard and looked back up at Loki, shaking her head.</p><p>Shakk’uri smiled at the precious girl. “Come here, Kuna,” she instructed her. “Come sit with me.”</p><p>Kuna looked up at Loki, as if asking permission. He gestured for her to go. “Go ahead,” he said, chuckling a little that she’d ask him. He was smiling and if he thought it was okay then Kuna did too. She hopped down from the couch and slunk over to Shakk’uri. She picked her up gently and set her down on her lap.</p><p>            Loki was beginning to like having this child around. Women could be so easily taken by children.</p><p>            <em>So are you apparently,</em> the voice said from its cell in the dark corner of his mind. Loki pushed him away.</p><p>            Shakk’uri put her hand on Kuna’s arm, gently rubbing it. Loki could tell that Kuna was a little uncomfortable from all the attention. She pulled her hands up to her neck and fiddled with the collar.</p><p>            “Tell me more about her,” Shakk’uri said to Loki. “Who would keep such a beautiful child as a slave.” The other women gasped at the revelation. Loki was a little annoyed at the sudden change in conversation. He wanted to make this deal. He wanted to see more of this currency.</p><p>            “Well, I was exploring a world in a faraway system. One that is not yet included in the Nova Corps,” he began. “And probably for good reason. They’re incredibly primitive, it would seem. This world, called Torileena, was covered in these immensely large trees. They were so tall they seemed to touch the sky.” The women all leaned into his story. At least he had their attention.</p><p>            “I found Kuna being dangled over a cliff by a chain,” he said to gasps by the women. “Her ‘masters’ were using her as live bait for these ferocious beasts called kapka.”</p><p>            Kuna shuddered a little from the memory. Shakk’uri pulled her closer, comforting her.</p><p>            “They were horrendous to her. Kicking her and beating her. I could not just leave her there in such a condition, so I pushed the men over the side of the cliff and into the jaws of the disgusting creatures.”</p><p>            “Serves them right,” one of the women said.</p><p>            “How awful,” another.</p><p>            “Kuna was alone with them,” Loki continued. “I had already met a rather unsavory beast wandering the woods that had tried to kill me and only just survived. I could not leave her there, so I took her with me. And here we are,” he said.</p><p>            “How terrible, my dear,” Shakk’uri said, looking at Kuna. “I will ensure we get those awful chains off you. And a nice, warm bath and plenty of food. Of course, if that’s alright with Lopt.”</p><p>            “Yes, that was my intention as well,” he said.</p><p>            “Tell me, darling. How long have you been a slave?”</p><p>            Kuna did not like this question. “Um, um, almost my whole life, your majesty,” she whispered.</p><p>            “How old are you, my love?”</p><p>            Loki was interested in this information too. Kuna had been so sick and weak; he had not had the chance to learn more about her.</p><p>            “I – I’m only two centuries old,” she said.</p><p>            “Oh, so young,” Shakk’uri admitted.</p><p>What would she know, Loki thought to himself? Two hundred years could be five years for her people or a thousand years for another planet. It was good information to have, though. Kuna seemed to be of the ‘immortal’ type. She’d live for several thousand years or so not a few blinks of an eye like the humans.</p><p>“What happened to your mother?” Shakk’uri asked Kuna.</p><p>            Kuna was confused by the question but hung her head. “Mommy and daddy didn’t want me anymore.”</p><p>            There were gasps and angry muttering from the women.</p><p>            “What sort of monsters are her people?”</p><p>            “Who would do such a thing?”</p><p>            “What sort of people keep children as slaves?”</p><p>            “What does she mean her mother <em>and</em> father didn’t want her?</p><p>            Loki felt for Kuna. She was not alone in the struggle of parents not wanting their children. He felt a heat rise in his chest at the thought of his biological parents and of Odin.</p><p>            “The father should have been grateful to even have the chance of siring a child,” one woman said.</p><p>            “How barbaric of a mother to give up her child.”</p><p>            “Ladies, please,” Shakk’uri calmed them with a wave of her hand. “We don’t know about their culture. They could still think men and women are equal.”</p><p>Loki looked around mischievously. He tried not to laugh at what they thought was ‘primitive’. He did not want to disrespect them, especially, when he was so close to getting himself and Kuna a ton of gold and jewels that actually were valuable.</p><p>Kuna was very confused and very uncomfortable. She had few memories of her real parents -none of them good- and she did not want to remember them. She also did not want to disrespect the queen even though she wanted off her lap and to sit beside Loki again. So, she lowered her head and stayed still.</p><p>“Well, now, my dear,” Shakk’uri said. “You’re safe now. You seem to be in good hands.” She looked up at Lopt who was watching Kuna. He was looking thoughtfully at the child, his green eyes full of a deep sadness. “So, Lopt, what do you think of our deal?”</p><p>He straightened up. “I think it’s perfectly agreeable. Once the Shap’aks are all assembled and counted, I will give you the stone.”</p><p>“Very well, then,” she said, extending her hand to him. “We have a deal.”</p><p>Loki stood and gracefully took her hand, shaking it. Kuna looked up at him and to his surprise, lifted her arms to him as if wanting to be picked up. He smiled and lifted the child out of Shakk’uri’s lap and sat down again. The queen called over another scurrying man and instructed him to collect the two and a half trillion Shap’aks Loki had been promised. Kuna hugged him. He was surprised by her sudden need to be touched. She had been so instinctively afraid of his touch until now.</p><p>Then, he remembered the little groot toy she had wanted in the market. “Oh,” he said. “I’ve just remembered the toy I promised you.” She looked up at him with her big eyes. He looked at the queen and explained, “We were looking through the market and I told her she could pick out whatever toy she wanted. She found a little toy groot at one of the vendors, but, as we did not have any money, the owner would not allow her to have it. He was a little gruff about it, come to think of it, even though I promised him cash upon return.</p><p>“Will you please excuse us for a while so I can fulfill my promise to her?”</p><p>Shakk’uri smiled warmly, “Of course.” She gave him the large bag filled with Shap’aks.</p><p>“What do you think? Do you want to go get that groot?” Loki asked Kuna.</p><p>Kuna nodded, smiling with tears in her eyes. Her very first ever toy. She couldn’t wait any longer. They stood and bowed to the queen and the ladies and left the hive.</p><p>“What did you think of all that?” Loki asked her, picking her up and propping her on his hip as they walked outside.</p><p>“Um,” she said, fiddling with her collar.</p><p>“Oh come on,” Loki prompted her. “What’d you think?”</p><p>“That was a little weird,” she said, after some consideration.</p><p>“Ha, yeah, it was,” Loki chuckled. “It’s always interesting to find about what other cultures and peoples view as normal or strange or outlandish.”</p><p>They made their way to the marketplace with the purse full of Shap’aks the queen had given them. Kuna was still thinking about all the ladies calling the queen ‘mother’.</p><p>“Do you think she’s the mom of all of them? Like ants or bees?” she asked, inquisitively.</p><p>Loki smiled. He knew she was clever. Beneath all that nervous, jumpy exterior was an inquisitive, observant little girl.</p><p>“Yes, I do think there’s something like that going on here. Perhaps, we can ask her to tell us more when we return.”</p><p>Kuna nodded. Then, she saw the vendor they had been to before. Loki put her down and she jumped up on the stool again, scanning to table for her groot. She couldn’t find it. She looked again to make sure she hadn’t missed it, hiding under all the other toys.</p><p>“Hmm,” Loki said. “I don’t see it. Sir,” he addressed the same gross looking being from before. He was definitely not native Tenanciian. Loki didn’t know what he was. He was squat and fat with disgusting pink, wrinkly skin. “Sir, where is the little groot toy we were looking at before? Did you place it behind the counter?”</p><p>“Nah,” he spat back at him. “That kid there’s bought it.”</p><p>Loki and Kuna turned to see a male Tenanciian with a small child hugging the little toy. Loki looked down at Kuna. He could see her disappointment. A small tear trailed down her face but she quickly wiped it away. Loki panicked. He didn’t like seeing her cry so much. He glared at the fat man, who smiled smugly back at him.</p><p>“Come on, Kuna,” he said, taking her hand. “We’ll find a better toy somewhere else. These are all poorly made anyways. I’m sure there are better ones at another stall.”</p><p>The fat man glowered at Loki but made a movement for him to stop, not wanting to miss out on a sale. Loki ignored him with a flippant toss of his hair and walked away with Kuna.</p><p>She was quiet and watched the ground as they walked. Loki picked her up again.</p><p>“He was a meany, anyways,” he said. “We’ll find you a better a toy. There’s tons of stalls here.”</p><p>The walked for a little while, passing all the stalls. Some sold clothing, others bags, others weapons and armor. There was an array of items being sold from all over the galaxy. Loki noticed Tenanciians spending a mixture of Shap’aks and Xandarian units. His eyes fell on a small shop selling Asgardian goods. He did a doubletake at the familiar linens and fabrics.</p><p>Interested in what they had to sell, Loki approached the very non-Asgardian salesman. The vendor appeared to be from Vanaheim with his pin straight black hair and almond shaped eyes. On the table, there was a spread of Asgardian weapons and armor, along with some clothing and jewelry. Loki examined the items while Kuna still looked about for a toy stand.</p><p>“Do you have anything that’s child sized?” Loki asked, taking Kuna under her arms and showing him her size by extending her out in front of him. Kuna looked around, shyly, before Loki put her back on his hip. The Vana smiled and picked up a small chest from behind the draped table.</p><p>“Please, have a look, sir,” he said.</p><p>Loki opened the box and began thumbing through the clothing. “You’re a long way from home,” he observed to the vendor.</p><p>“I am a traveler, my friend,” the Vana explained. “Selling goods from the Nine Realms to fund my travels and my family.”</p><p>“Ahh,” Loki breathed, not looking up at him.</p><p>“You too, seem far from home.” Loki looked up in shock. Had this Vana recognized him from Asgard? He had hoped the disguise would help him from being recognized. The man pointed to his mouth. “You’re accent,” he said.</p><p>“Ah, yes,” Loki said. “We’re traveling too, aren’t we?” he said, nudging Kuna a little.</p><p>“It is good to be away from the Nine Realms in these troubling times, yes?”</p><p>“Troubling times?” Loki said, acting surprised. “Do you have news from the Realms?”</p><p>“It has been many, many centuries since I’ve been there but my wife has contacted me, saying that the Realms have erupted into chaos since the death of one of the Asgardian princes.” Loki’s heart was beginning to race. He couldn’t read this man. Had he recognized him or not.</p><p>“Mmm. Yes, I do remember hearing of Loki’s death,” he said. Kuna turned her head to look at him. She hadn’t fully been listening to their conversation. “If I remember correctly, he destroyed the Asgardians’ Bifrost and nearly destroyed Jotunheim as well. Perhaps, he deserved what became of him. Is your wife safe?”</p><p>“Oh, yes. She is,” he said. Loki was relieved for changing the subject. “She and my sons are gathering more materials for us to sell. They will be joining me on Tenanci’i soon.”</p><p>“That’s good. This seems to be a uniquely peaceful place.”</p><p>“It truly is lovely,” the man said, looking around thoughtfully. “Here, I have something special that may suit what you are searching for.” He ducked back into his covered stall and returned with a beautiful light blue and brown noble Asgardian child’s garment. Loki took it from the man, who ducked back into the stall once more.</p><p>Loki kept his eyes on him but handed the outfit to Kuna. “What do you think, little one?” he asked her. “For you.”</p><p>She felt the fabric in her hands. It was soft and warm. The man reappeared with a small cloak and some tiny boots. “These were made in the Asgardian garment district. They are genuine Asgardian ovis wool. Breathable and soft but will keep you warm in the coldest of climes,” he said gesturing to the tunic and trousers in Kuna’s hand. “And these are bilgesnipe leather boots,” he continued, showing her the wee boots. “They will protect your little feet from anything. Completely watertight and warm.” He set them down in front of Loki on the table and lifted the cloak. “But this is what I wish to show you. Here, have a feel.”</p><p>Loki and Kuna both felt the soft, deep blue cloak. It was trimmed with a silver lining, knitting itself in delicate knotted patterns all around the outside the border of the cloak. Kuna let out an ardent breath, admiring the beautiful needlework. Loki too felt a pang of homesickness which he quickly buried.</p><p>“This would be a wonderful compliment to these garments, but it is not just a beautiful piece, it will protect you well. For this needlework is enchanted to protect the wearer from any projectile or melee attack like a fabric shield.”</p><p>Loki smiled. He thought he could feel magic in its fibers. Kuna pulled her hand away and looked up at Loki.</p><p>“It’s alright,” he said, sensing her fear. “I think it would be very useful for you. And this outfit would look lovely on you. Can she try it on?”</p><p>“Yes, of course!” the man said, smiling. “Come this way.”</p><p>Loki stepped cautiously behind the counter and followed the man behind the Vanir decorated tarp.</p><p>“Here,” he said. “I will give you some privacy.”</p><p>Loki nodded and the man stepped out. Loki listened, making sure the man stayed put in the stall and didn’t run to the nearest Nova Corp crony. Satisfied that the man had gone back to his work and not to tattle, Loki turned to little Kuna.</p><p>“Here, let’s try this on,” he said, crouching to her level.</p><p>She shyly turned away. “I can’t have a magic cape,” she said.</p><p>“And why not? Don’t you think it’s pretty?”</p><p>She nodded, staring at it longingly. “But it’s magic,” she said, pulling her eyes away to look at Loki again.</p><p>“What’s wrong with that?”</p><p>“Well – well, I’m a slave. I can’t have magic things.”</p><p>“You are not a slave anymore, Kuna,” Loki told her, firmly. “You are free now. You can do whatever you like. If you like this cloak, I want to get it for you.” She still looked unsure.</p><p>“Let’s try on the outfit first,” Loki said, setting aside the cloak. He made another peek outside. The Vana stood, helping another customer buy a leather purse. He turned back to Kuna and started to lift her ragged shirt, if that’s what you could call it. It was more like a burlap sack. “Let’s get your shirt off.” Kuna pulled away from him, nearly falling over in fear. She shook her head and sniffled.</p><p>“Kuna, it’s alright,” he said. “We need to get this off you. Look at it, it’s filthy.”</p><p>Kuna had never had a different shirt. This is the one she had always had. The one they’d given her when her mommy and daddy sold her to the stockyard.</p><p>“You can’t possibly be attached to it,” Loki said.</p><p>“I- I- I’ve never had anything else,” she stammered.</p><p>“All the more reason to take it off,” Loki replied shortly, his brow raised.</p><p>“P-please don’t take it off,” she whispered. “I’ll be good.” She spoke as if she’d misbehaved. Loki looked at her, confused.</p><p>“It’s fine, Kuna. You’ve not been bad. I just want you to try on this cute outfit.”</p><p>Kuna took a deep breath and removed the sack herself. Loki’s heart sank at the sight of her bared torso and back. Layers of scars from years of floggings and beatings crisscrossed her front and back. Some far newer than others, still healing with thick, crusty, infected scabs.</p><p>“Oh, Kuna,” Loki breathed.</p><p>Suddenly, rather ashamed of her appearance, she folded her arms.</p><p>“No. It’s alright,” he said, gently pulling her arms away and holding her hands. He looked at her softly, “I’m sorry that they’ve done this to you. You’re too young to suffer this much.”</p><p>She looked down. “That’s what I’m for,” she said, dejectedly. She believed it.</p><p>“That’s nonsense!” Loki said, dispirited by her response. “That is not what you’re for. Not anymore. You’re free now and you’re with me so that basically makes you a princess,” he said lowering his voice so the Vana would not hear. “No one is ever going to hurt you like this again. And I’ll pinky swear to that too,” he said, lifting his pinky to her. She shook her head and looked at her feet.</p><p>“Come on,” he encouraged her. “Try on this cute shirt and trousers. Then, we’ll go find you a new toy.”</p><p>She looked up at him, her eyes filled yet again with tears. He rolled up the tunic and held it in front of her. She put her arms through the arm holes, and he lifted it over her head. Adjusting it on her small frame, he found it was a little too big for her. As he tightened the sash around her waist, the garment suddenly shrank before his eyes, perfectly adjusting to her size. He raised a brow, but Kuna nearly leapt out of it.</p><p>“No, no,” he said, steadying her. “It’s alright. I didn’t realize it would do that or I would have warned you. This appears to be enchanted too which is good, because the trousers should fit as well.</p><p>She removed her tattered trousers and he helped her into the new ones. They too, shrank to fit her stick-thin legs. She stepped into the boots which also shrank to her size. Loki draped the cloak over her shoulders and anchored it with the knotwork fibulae on the front of the tunic. He sat back on his haunches and looked her up and down.</p><p>“You look stunning,” he said. Kuna sniveled a little at his comment. All these compliments in one day were far too much for her little, abused mind. “Turn around and have a look in the mirror.”</p><p>She did so and was amazed by her reflection. Looking past her matted hair and dirty face, she nearly cried at how pretty she looked. She put her hands to her neck and looked at her whole body. She looked like the rich boys and girls on Torileena and the other planets in her home-system. The knotwork on the garments was so pretty. She traced it with her fingers.</p><p>Loki watched her appreciate herself for probably the first time in her life. “See? What did I tell you? This is perfect for you. And practical too,” he said, thinking of the armor enchantments on it. He helped her take it off and put her old clothes on. “When we return to the hive, I’ll give you a nice warm bath so you can appreciate these clothes with a clean body, huh?” She nodded, still in wonder at the gift he was giving her.</p><p>They stepped back outside, and Loki nodded to the Vana man. “Yes, I think these will work perfectly,” he said. The Vana smiled. “And such a perfect fit,” Loki laughed.</p><p>“Ah, yes,” the Vana replied. “The Asgardian garment mages produce some of the finest garments in all the worlds I’ve ever been to. I hope it reminds you fondly of home.”</p><p>Loki paid for the garments in Shap’aks which the man gladly accepted. He leaned in closer to Loki, putting his hand up to shield his words. “I don’t want to tell the Tenanciians that the Nova Corps are duping them with their strange digital currency. This is far more valuable,” he whispered, flipping the Shap’aks in his hand.</p><p>Loki nodded with a smile. “Me either,” he said.</p><p>Loki also purchased a nicely made Norn leather satchel to hold their new belongings. While Kuna looked at the other garments on display, Loki saw a rather lovely looking celestial steel dagger. It was perfect for Kuna; just her size. It was not Asgardian. It looked as if it were made for a light elf, but he could see the Dwarven makers mark. He picked it up.</p><p>“Oh, I knew you had good taste, sir,” the Vana said to him. Loki put his finger to his lips and darted his eyes to the girl. The man took the hint and smiled, nodding.</p><p>“Eitri,” Loki breathed. The dwarf king from Nidavellir, it was his mark. The star forge had made this blade. Loki wondered how the man had acquired such an item but not wanting to offend him, kept his thoughts to himself. He wondered if he even knew who had made it. It was intricately woven with elven-style knotwork on the handle. The blade itself was engraved with the same motif. He purchased it and quickly tucked it away in his satchel before Kuna could see.</p><p>Clearly, the Shap’aks they had been given were worth quite a lot as they had barely used any to pay for all these expensive things. “Come, Kuna. Let’s get you a toy,” he said. Kuna bounced over to him and took his hand. “Thank you so much, sir, for your hospitality and kindness. It’s been very nice visiting with you. I wish you and your family well.”</p><p>The man nodded, bowing his head slightly as the Vanir did when fare welling. “I wish you and your daughter the same,” he said. Kuna looked at the man in confusion then up at Loki. He smiled and chuckled a little before thanking him and walking away. He took Kuna’s hand and they walked away into the market again, eagerly searching for a toy stand.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>My hope is that this will be resolved before this chapter goes live but I would like my lovely readers to know that my work and the work of thousands of other writers on AO3 has been stolen and is being profited from via an app on the Google Play Store, iTunes, and Galaxy called Fanfic Pocket Library Archive (Unofficial). The dev claims it to be an unoffical AO3 mobile version but has essentially hacked AO3s code (obviously without permission) and runs ads, a subscription service, and a tip service to profit from my work and the work of so many thousands of others. </p><p>If you're generous enough to do so, head to any of these platforms (or the one you use the most) and leave a one star review on the app and flag it as inappropriate so we can have it removed.</p><p>We fanfic authors do this for free because we enjoy writing and fandom and we know you readers enjoy our work and fandom on this lovely hosting service that is AO3, so please, if you have a few moments, help out our community and let's take down this ridiculous app.</p>
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<a name="section0007"><h2>7. A Bath</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>After searching all over the bazaar with no luck finding another decent toy stand, Loki was beginning to think that nasty toy salesman had cornered Tenanci’i’s market on toys. They left the bazaar and started out onto the streets. Finally, he spotted a building with a large glass window, displaying huge stuffed animals and wooden toys. His heart lifted as he did not want to see Kuna crying again.</p><p>They had stopped at a few other vendors, picking up supplies here and there. A tent at one shop and two bedrolls at another, in case they got caught out in the wilderness somewhere; a few canteens and food containers as well just to be safe. They had stopped at one table that was selling all kinds of pre-packaged, traveling food.</p><p>The shopkeeper was an enormous being that stood nearly four meters tall. Kuna thought this man must have been a giant since even Loki was dwarfed by him. While not a frost giant, the man seemed to come from a realm where the oxygen content was quite high, to grow to such a large size. His skin was coarse and green, rough like a callous. His brow extended well over his sunken eyes and he sported a rather severe underbite. However, he was kind and offered them to look over one particular section of the table.</p><p>Loki picked up a box of giant protein bars while the shopkeeper worked with another customer. Loki looked at Kuna then back at the box. She needed to put on weight and fast. One of these with her meals would help with that. Loki paid the giant who gave him a confused look as he accepted what Loki figured were far too many Shap’aks for the box of protein bars. He didn’t really care too much about it. They were going to have far more of them very soon.</p><p>Loki pointed to the toy store. “Look Kuna,” he said. “We’ll definitely find something in there for you.” Kuna was delighted at the sight of the toys in the window. They entered.</p><p>It smelled new inside like fresh packaging. Toys lined the walls on tall shelves from floor to ceiling, wrapping around the whole room. Tables set up in the middle of the floor, displayed more toys, stuffed animals, and figurines. Loki noticed the racks filled with wooden weapons on one wall. He crouched down to Kuna.</p><p>“Why don’t you have a look around and find something you like,” he told her. “Maybe you can find a better toy here.”</p><p>She was struck by all the beautiful toys around her and walked to the table nearest them. Once again, there were little stools pushed up under the tables for children to stand on as they looked for toys. Other parents with their children walked about the store.</p><p>Loki left Kuna at the table and walked to the wooden weapons. He picked up a little wooden dagger, about the size of the real one he had just purchased for her. He turned over in his hands, fondly remembering the one he had had as a child on Asgard when he was learning to use them.</p><p>Kuna was peering at the toys on the table, her nose just reaching above the edge even on her tip toes on the stool. Loki noticed her struggling to see all the toys. He tucked the wooden dagger under his arm and walked back over to her, picking her up.</p><p>“What do you see? Anything you like?”</p><p>“Mmm,” she said, looking over them but not finding anything exciting.</p><p>“We’ll keep looking.”</p><p>They walked around the store and inspected all the toys. Loki picked up one occasionally and Kuna tested it in her hands. While she was weighing one that resembled a tiny eight-legged horse, she looked up and on the highest shelf, found the toy she had to have. Loki followed her gaze to a stuffed dragon on the top shelf.</p><p>“Oh, I think I see the one,” he said. He set her down and stood on his toes to reach it. The Tenanciians were far too tall, he thought to himself and pulled out one of the stools for himself. Stepping up on it, he pulled down the black and green dragon from the shelf and gave it to Kuna.</p><p>Kuna took the small dragon plush toy in her hands. It was deep green and stood on four legs with big, black, cloth wings. She ran her hands over it. While it was filled with soft stuffing, the outside was covered in a harder material that felt like scales under her fingers. The wings had a leathery texture. She smiled and hugged it.</p><p>Loki took both toys and the wooden dagger to the counter and paid the Tenanciian man for them in Shap’aks. He gave the toys to Kuna and they stepped out of the way. She held up the dagger, confused as this was not one of the toys she had picked. She didn’t consider this a toy at all.</p><p>“If you’re going to travel with me, you’re going to need to learn to defend yourself,” Loki said. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I don’t always travel to the safest places.” Kuna smiled and laughed a little. “I had one of these when I was your age. It was my favorite toy. I stabbed my brother with it all the time.”</p><p>Kuna grimaced at the thought of Loki stabbing his brother but giggled as she saw him laughing at the memory. She handed it back to Loki who tucked it away in his satchel. He took her hand and they left the toy store with Kuna feeling the best she had in her whole entire life.</p><p>The next place Loki wanted to take her was the blacksmith whom Shakk’uri had given him directions to when they left her hive. Kuna hugged her stuffed animals tightly to her chest, following Loki close on his heels. They arrived back near the hive and walked down the paved street to the city’s edge.</p><p>“We’re going to get those shackles off of you,” he told her. “And that ghastly collar.”</p><p>He gently took her toys and put them in the satchel with their little heads poking out of each side so Kuna could still see them. “We’ll just put these guys in here, so they don’t get dirty. Blacksmiths can be rather filthy places. And people,” he added.</p><p>They walked into the open-air smith. A large, stone canopy shaded them from the sun. A forge burned away in a corner, the flame white hot within. Beneath the canopy, were tables strewn with tools and weapons in progress. Along the sides of the smithy, propped up against the narrow fences that made up its boundaries, were armor and weapons racks filled with swords, shields, bows, axes, guns, blasters, and photon rifles.</p><p>A tall, female Tenanciian worked the forge, pulling a long piece of glowing metal from it and dipping it into a vat of water. It let out a harsh hiss and Kuna jumped behind Loki, hiding under his cape.</p><p>“Good day, my lady,” Loki said, bowing a little. The woman turned, her white eyes falling on them.</p><p>“Hello,” she said. “What can I help you with?”</p><p>“My name is – Lopt,” Loki remembered the name he had been using. “Shakk’uri sent—”</p><p>“Oh, yes. She told me you would be coming,” the woman said. “Where’s the little one?”</p><p>Loki moved his cape and picked Kuna up, setting her on one of the cleaner worktables. The woman approached and smiled warmly at her. She lifted one of Kuna’s hands and studied the manacle on her wrist, then looked at her collar.</p><p>“This metal is unknown to me, but I will try to remove it from her,” she said. “It’s simply ghastly that someone would put such shackles on a little girl.”</p><p>“Yes, her people were rather barbaric,” Loki said.</p><p>“My name is Upat-ǂ, by the way,” she said.</p><p>Loki shook his head, his Allspeak not registering the strange labial click she made at the end of her name.</p><p>“I’m sorry?” he said.</p><p>“Upat-ǂ,” she said again.</p><p>“Upat… ǂ,” he tried to repeat.</p><p>“Close enough,” she said.</p><p>“Upat-ǂ,” Kuna tried, acing the pronunciation.</p><p>“Well done, little one,” Upat-ǂ said. “You’re rather clever, aren’t you?”</p><p>Loki frowned a little at being shown up by a toddler. He was really trying to pronounce Upat-ǂ’s name properly. He hated when his Allspeak did not register certain nuances of other cultures’ languages.</p><p>“Now, let’s see what we can do about these,” Upat-ǂ said. She turned and picked up a toolbox from underneath one of the tables and set it next to Kuna. Upon seeing the scary tools inside, Kuna cried out and reached for Loki.</p><p>“It’s alright,” he said, shaking his head. “They’re not to hurt you. These tools are going to help get these off.”</p><p>Kuna whimpered a little, holding onto Loki’s waist.</p><p>Loki let out an embarrassed laugh as the girl clung to him. He gingerly put his hand on her head and stroked her hair. It seemed to calm her a bit. Upat-ǂ put her hand out for Kuna’s wrist but she shook her head and squeezed Loki harder.</p><p>“It’s alright,” Upat-ǂ said. “Look, you can hold it.”</p><p>Kuna hesitantly took the tool, resembling a pair of pliers, and held it in her hand. They were heavy and the end plopped on the table as she tried to hold it up. It had scary teeth on it. She dropped it and buried her head in Loki’s side. She did not like this place. It smelled bad and it was dirty and scary and reminded her of the mines on Ypintu.</p><p>“It’s fine, Kuna. It looks scary but it won’t hurt you. Blacksmiths must have steady hands and I’m sure… Upat-ǂ has the steadiest of them all. She won’t hurt you,” Loki reassured her. She looked back at Upat-ǂ who smiled kindly at her. Loki nodded and Kuna gave her her hand.</p><p>Upat-ǂ picked up the pliers and gently took her wrist and used them to slowly pull the shackle apart at its lock. The metal creaked and popped under the pressure Upat-ǂ put on the pliers, but her hands were as steady as Loki had said they would be.</p><p>Suddenly, a loud sound of breaking metal came from Kuna’s wrist. She cried out, more from the sound than any pain, yanking her hand away and burying her head into Loki’s side. He hugged her only to comfort her. He didn’t really like hugs.</p><p>“There, look,” Upat-ǂ said. “It’s gone, see? You did such a good job. Can I see your other hand?”</p><p>Kuna stared at her wrist. She couldn’t remember the last time she had seen it without the chains on it. It must have been before mommy and daddy sold her. That was a long time ago.</p><p>Loki took a green handkerchief from his pocket and wiped away some of the dirt and grime. The skin around her wrist had become calloused from decades of the manacle chafing her skin. Red, inflamed skin lined the outside of this callous in two red bars, but Loki could see something else. He looked closer, gently rubbing with the handkerchief at what he thought was dirt but what he found was a small scar. Thin silver lines carved into her skin at jagged angles, spelled ‘KVNA’ on her wrist.</p><p>Kuna stared at it, rubbing her own finger over it. Loki took her wrist and looked at her, concerned. “Did you do this?” he asked. Kuna flinched at the confrontational question and nodded, hanging her head.</p><p>She sucked in air and cried, “I didn’t want to forget it!”</p><p>Loki drew back from her a moment, in shock. He was shocked at himself as tears of his own filled his eyes.</p><p>            “I—I—I couldn’t remember it anymore,” she continued. “Not like I should. So when Master Letani sold me, I asked one of the other slaves that knew how to write to scratch it in the dirt because I didn’t want to forget it because I thought mommy and daddy would come back for me and maybe they would have forgotten me so I wroted it on my arm with a nail and covered it with dirt so the masters wouldn’t see it.”</p><p>            “Alright, just slow down,” Loki said, trying to calm her.</p><p>            “And… and then I’d look at it when I thought I was fogotting… forgetting myself… and…”</p><p>            “I’m sorry, Kuna,” Loki said, hugging her. She sobbed into his chest.</p><p>Upat-ǂ was astonished by the pain this girl had suffered. She was angry at the people who had done this. She wanted them to pay for it. Her expression softened as she got to work on Kuna’s other wrist.</p><p> “There is some antiseptic on the table, there, Lopt,” Upat-ǂ said. Loki couldn’t stop staring at Kuna’s hand either. He was filled with sadness for her. He had been in chains before too. In fact, the ones his brother had put on him still grazed his wrists beneath his bracers even now. He knew the pain they created, physically and mentally. Not wanting to raise any suspicions with this woman or Shakk’uri, he thought he would keep those to himself for now.</p><p>“Lopt?” Upat-ǂ said again. Loki snapped to attention at his pseudonym.</p><p>“Oh yes, sorry,” he said, picking up the bottle of antiseptic ointment from the table. He applied it to Kuna’s wrist gently as Upat-ǂ removed the second manacle. He took Kuna’s other hand and attentively rubbed the ointment onto her wrist and hand. He also applied some to the cuts on her arms made by the chains.</p><p>“When you return to the hive, you should have Tena’gli look her over. She’s one of Shakk’uri’s greatest healers,” Upat-ǂ said.</p><p>“Thank you. I’ll be sure to find her. There are a few more that look rather painful,” Loki said.</p><p>            Upat-ǂ was moving more quickly now that she had the hang of removing the shackles. Once the ones on Kuna’s ankles were removed, she moved on to the one on Kuna’s neck. She flinched away and shook her head when Upat-ǂ took the pliers to them.</p><p>            “It’s alright, it’s alright,” Upat-ǂ cooed at her. “I will have this off in no time.”</p><p>            Kuna held Loki’s hand and squeezed it as Upat-ǂ pried the collar apart. It was proving especially difficult. Kuna was not making it any easier by pulling hard against it.</p><p>            “Just relax,” Loki said, squeezing her hand back. Kuna relaxed a little and the added slack gave Upat-ǂ the opportunity to pop the lock on the collar. Kuna jumped again at the sound. Loki gently took the collar off from around her neck and set it down on the table.</p><p>            Kuna put her hands around her neck. She didn’t like the feeling of the collar not being there. It felt as if the air hurt her skin. Her skin was thickly scarred in some areas but angry and red in others. She rubbed it and winced. Loki stopped her and placed the cooling antiseptic ointment over the itchy, red chafing. Kuna didn’t like the feeling of his hands on her neck either, even though they were soft. She shook her head, but Loki persisted.</p><p>            “There,” he said. “All done. I’m sure it will start to feel better soon.”</p><p>            Kuna put her head on Loki’s chest, and he picked her up. Upat-ǂ pouted at the sight of the sad child. She knew she appreciated what she had done for her, but she didn’t know how to express it. She looked tired and overwhelmed.</p><p>            “Thank you, Upat-ǂ. You’ve been tremendously helpful. I’ll be sure to tell Shakk’uri how you have helped us,” Loki said.</p><p>            Upat-ǂ bowed her head. “Goodbye, little one,” she said, waving to Kuna. “It was nice to meet you.”</p><p>            Not wanting to be rude, Kuna raised her head and waved back. “Bye-bye, Upat-ǂ. Thank you,” she said, meekly.</p><p>            Loki gave Kuna her dragon which seemed to cheer her up immensely. He carried her away back to the hive.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Upon arriving at the domed palace, they were met with a tiny male Tenanciian.</p><p>“Mother Shakk’uri cannot see you, now. She is attending to an urgent matter. She has instructed me to take you to your guest chambers,” he squeaked.</p><p>“Very well,” Loki said. “Lead the way.”</p><p>The man led them through a series of circular hallways, like tunnels leading through the hive. They twisted and turned several times, going up stairs and then down again, before arriving at a circular door.</p><p>“Here we are,” the man said, opening the doors obediently.</p><p>Inside was a lavish white room, draped in similar golden curtains as in the main hall. A large bed sat on one side of the circular room. On the other, a small, sunken area, strewn with pillows and couches for lounging. A table in the middle of this little den was covered in trays of colorful food and drink.</p><p>The man bowed away and left them. Loki took Kuna into the room and set her down on one of the couches. An attached doorway appeared to lead to a bathroom across from the bed. Loki gave Kuna her other toy and walked over to the bathroom.</p><p>He drew a bath for her and placed some scented liquids in the water. There was an array of toiletries lined out on shelves and trays in the bathroom. Bottles with fragrances, perfumed oils, soaps, shampoos, and conditioners; combs and brushes and small, soft cloths as well as towels.</p><p>When the water was warm and bubbled, Loki called Kuna to the bathroom. She hopped up and carried both her toys in with her, one tucked under each arm. Loki smiled.</p><p>“You need a bath, missy,” he said.</p><p>Kuna’s eyes widened as she realized what was happening and she ran away, bolting out the door.</p><p>“No, no!” Loki said, laughing. “You come back here!”</p><p>She started to giggle as he chased her about the room. She was quick when she wanted to be. She ran to one side of the circular, sunken, den, facing Loki on the other. He darted one way and she the other and they chased each other around and around. He could see she thought this was fun so he would humor her for a while.</p><p>“Kuna, you get in this bathwater right now!” Loki said. She shook her head with a grin.</p><p>            He pointed to her firmly and then to the bathroom. He was met again with a firm head shake, no.</p><p>            “I will get you in there,” he said. She shook her head again and then ran to the bed, crawling underneath it.</p><p>            He walked over and crouched. She had crawled as far away from him as possible. Using his seidr, he made a copy of himself, and walked to the other side of the bed. The other Loki crouched and touched Kuna’s back. Spooked by the sudden appearance of another Loki, she scampered right into the real Loki’s arms.</p><p>            “Haha! Got you,” he laughed. But it was no longer a game.</p><p>            Kuna stared in fear at the doppelganger and then back at the real Loki who held her.</p><p>            “Oh, it’s fine,” Loki said, sensing her fear. “That’s just me! Look, I can make more.” He made four more Lokis appear around the room. Kuna cried out and wriggled in his arms.</p><p>            “No! No!” she cried.</p><p>            “Hey, hey, it’s fine,” he said. She kicked and clambered. He held her outstretched in his hands. “I made them. They won’t hurt you. They’re me. Look, I’ll make them go away.” The Lokis faded away in green glimmer. Kuna calmed down but looked around her for any other Lokis.</p><p>            “You’ll have to get used to my magic if you’re going to hang with me,” Loki said. He put her under his arm and carried her to the bathroom, and she let him, half upset she lost the game because he cheated, and half scared that more Lokis might appear to catch her if she tried anything.</p><p>He set her down gently on her feet, blocking her access to the door this time. He took her toys and set them on the counter beside the washbasin. “They’re going to sit right here and watch over you, okay? They don’t like water,” Loki said. He thought he sounded ridiculous talking to this child, but she seemed to buy his logic.</p><p>She was anxious about him removing her clothes, but he reassured her it would be fine. He removed her dirty clothes and picked her up, gently lowering her into the tub. She recoiled at the touch of the water, kicking and splashing Loki. He frowned at the wall, squinting, repressing a groan. He continued to lower her into the water until she sat on the bottom of the tub.</p><p>“It’s supposed to feel nice,” he explained, firmly. “I love baths.” It was no lie. There was nothing better than the bath that came after a particularly gruesome battle or beheading.</p><p>            Kuna certainly didn’t believe him. Every ‘bath’ she had ever had had come at the stockyard when she was being sold yet again. They would take a long hose at full pressure and scalding temperature and blast the slaves with it through the bars of the cages, quickly removing or killing any parasites they may have been carrying.</p><p>            “I don’t have no fleas!” she shouted, covering her head as Loki poured water over her matted hair.</p><p>            “You don’t have <em>any</em> fleas,” he corrected her.</p><p>            “I don’t have any of them, neither,” she said.</p><p>            “<em>Either</em>,” Loki corrected her, patiently, removing her hands from her head.</p><p>            “Either,” she mimicked.</p><p>            The bath water was already becoming dirty with the filth that covered her body. Loki sighed at the thought that she may need two baths to get rid of all this. As she grew accustomed to the water, he worked on her hair. He located the shampoo and conditioner and a comb and tediously began to remove the mats.</p><p>            He was careful not to tug too hard at her scalp. She did not like the attention, and every now and then pulled away from him. He stopped and put his hands down, looking at her.</p><p>            “Kuna,” he said, firmly but not trying to sound upset. “Sit still and let me take care of you. I promise this will feel good when I’m done. Just let me do it, alright?”</p><p>            She lowered her head, feeling sad that Loki was getting stern with her. “Okay,” she whispered. “I’m sorry, Loki.”</p><p>            “It’s alright,” he said, getting back to work on a particularly difficult dreadlock. “I understand all this is new to you. I know you’re overwhelmed by today. But you’ll get used to it. This is how normal people live; how free people live. And that’s what you are now,” he said.</p><p>            She blushed and touched her neck out of habit but did not find the collar she normally would fiddle with. Instead, she took a lock of hair Loki had finished combing through and twisted it in her fingers. She suddenly realized how soft it felt and held it out in front of her face. Her hair was a deep brown color when it was wet. It curled in her hands. She continued to twirl it and touch it.</p><p>            It took Loki a while, but he finally combed through all the knots in her hair, only managing to make her cry out in pain once or twice. The comb was covered in dead and broken hair and dirt. Loki grimaced at it and set it aside to clean later.</p><p>            He filled a pitcher with clean water and poured it over Kuna’s head, rinsing away the conditioner he had used to help detangle her hair. He then gently washed it again with shampoo and once more with conditioner until it was silky smooth. It fell in light waves down to her midback.</p><p>            “You have very pretty hair,” he said, picking up a bottle of perfumed oil and putting a few drops in his hands, running it through her locks.</p><p>            “Do I really?” she asked.</p><p>            “Yes,” he said. “I think you’ll be quite surprised when you see yourself in the mirror.”</p><p>            He then set to work on washing her body, but the water was filthy now. He pulled the plug out of the bath and it drained. He rinsed away the residual dirt and filled the tub again. Kuna was relieved. She was cold and her fingers were getting wrinkly from the water and she was more than ready to leave and never have a bath ever again, but when Loki turned the water on once more and made her sit, she folded her arms and frowned as the warm water began to rise to her waist.</p><p>            Loki gently washed her body as she wriggled about. Her back was thick with white and silver flogging scars. Bruises covered her ribs and abdomen from recent kicks and beatings, though it appeared his healing potion had done the trick in regenerating most of the recently wounded tissue. He extended her arm and scrubbed away at the caked-on grime. Thankfully, the soak in the first bathwater had loosened most of the dirt.</p><p>            When he was done, he made her stand, rinsing her thoroughly, and drained the water again. He filled the pitcher with fresh water again and rinsed her body. She shivered, hugging herself. Clearly, she did not have the same affinity for baths as Loki did. She looked much cleaner, though. And her hair was no longer matted and dirty. He removed her arms from her chest and examined a set of scars he had seen while he was washing her.</p><p>            “What happened here?” he asked. He had avoided bringing up the surely painful memories of her scars, but he was concerned about this one. It was deep, or at least had been. A set of three large, claw marks below her collarbone.</p><p>            Kuna looked down at her chest and back up at him. “Kapka got me,” she said, sadly. Loki’s eyes widened at her admonition.</p><p>            “This… this is from a kapka?” he asked, tracing one of the scars.</p><p>            “Mmm-hmm,” she nodded. “Master Spontzi lowered me too close to them one day and one of them got me with his claws. He bit me too, right here,” she said, pointing to a rather large scar on her side, where a chunk of skin had seemingly been torn away.</p><p>            “It paralyzed me right away, but it still hurt really, really bad,” she said. “That’s when it scratched me.”</p><p>He looked up at her, sorrowfully.</p><p>“I don’t like kapka very much. Not at all, really,” she said.</p><p>“I can’t imagine so,” he said. “Come on, let’s get you out of here and into your new clothes.”</p><p>This excited Kuna and she jumped out of the tub herself or tried, at least. She slipped about but Loki caught her and set her on the floor. He toweled her dry as she fussed with the towel and then revealed the clothes he had bought for her earlier. Her eyes grew big again at the sight of them.</p><p>He put on her trousers and then her tunic. “Do you want this on too?” he asked her, holding up the cape. She nodded slowly as he put it on. He tightened the little sash around her waist and pulled the wooden dagger from his pocket. She touched it in his hands before he tucked it into the belt on her side.</p><p>“Ready to see your new look?” he asked.</p><p>She took a deep breath and put on a serious face. She nodded. He lifted her up and stood her on the counter in front of the mirror. Kuna gasped. She didn’t recognize herself. She leaned forward and touched the mirror.</p><p>“So? What do you think?” Loki asked.</p><p>Kuna didn’t have the words for how she felt. Was this happiness? Her smile spread from ear to ear. She touched her reflection and traced the outline of her face in the mirror.</p><p>“Do you love it?” Loki asked. “It’s a good look.”</p><p>Kuna nodded, she had tears in her eyes. Loki took her down from the sink. Kuna loved the cape. She took hold of each end and ran through the living room, flapping the cape up and down like she had the wings of a dragon.</p><p>“Are you flying now?” Loki asked, raising a brow.</p><p>She giggled and ran in circles around the lounge area. “Do I look like a dragon?”</p><p>“You look just like a dragon.”</p><p>            She laughed, gleefully. Loki chuckled; a smirk crept across his face. Deep inside, he felt a rumble of his more sinister self, kicking him for being so sentimental. He shook the feeling away. He liked the girl. She was obedient and relatively quiet when she wasn’t crying. He thought he could keep her around for a while at least until he got bored.</p>
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<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Side Effects Include</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Loki was beginning to grow bored of sitting in their room. He flopped on the bed and stared at the ceiling for a while. When he found he could not sit still, he stood and paced back and forth for a while. He walked to the window and looked outside. Loki watched the people bustling about outside. He did not like being stuck in one place. They had been alone here for hours and no one had come to get them. Kuna was sitting on a pillow in the den area, playing pretend with her toys.</p><p>            “Kuna?” he asked, turning back to her. “Do you want to go out?”</p><p>            “Where?” she asked, looking up at him.</p><p>            “Anywhere, really.”</p><p>            “But what about Queen Shakk’uri?”</p><p>            “She’s taking her time with this ‘urgent’ matter,” Loki said, impatiently. “Are you hungry?”</p><p>Kuna looked down at her tummy. She was very hungry. It had been several hours since they had returned and they had polished off the food in the room for lunch. She looked back up at Loki and nodded.</p><p>“Then, let’s go out somewhere. She’s taking too long and you’re a growing little girl that needs to eat. We’ll just join her later and apologize if we’re late for something.”</p><p>            Kuna stood up, holding her stuffed animals under each arm. She shrugged, “Okay, then.” She followed Loki out of the room. He found one of Shakk'uri's little butler men and told him they were going out.</p><p>“Oh, but wait, sir, Mother Shakk’uri would rather you wait here,” the little man said, stepping in front of them. Kuna shrank a little, grabbing Loki’s hand. She didn’t like how tall the man was, even though he was much smaller than Shakk’uri, he was still much bigger than little Kuna.</p><p>“Oh, but we would really rather go out and enjoy your beautiful planet,” Loki said, stepping around him. “Expect us back later.”</p><p>            Loki walked past him, pulling Kuna gently along beside him. They walked out of the hive and back onto the street. Loki pulled up his hood and cowl.</p><p>            “Loki?” Kuna asked.</p><p>            “Mmm?”</p><p>            “Why did you call yourself Lopt?”</p><p>            “Oh, I’m just trying to keep my real identity secret. It’s just a name.”</p><p>            “But why?”</p><p>            “Well, there’s some dangerous people out there that would really like me dead.”</p><p>            “Dead? Why?” she asked, shocked that anyone would ever want Loki dead.</p><p>            “Some people don’t like me very much,” he responded, leading her through the crowds.</p><p>            “Well, I like you,” she said.</p><p>            He stopped and looked down at her. “Really?”</p><p>            “Yes, you’re the nicest person in the whole universe.”</p><p>            He chuckled a little. “If only you knew,” he said.</p><p>            Loki found a tavern on a street corner and walked Kuna inside. They found a table and he ordered a drink for himself – of the alcoholic variety – and a water for Kuna – of the non-alcoholic variety. Kuna crawled up on the seat next to Loki, but she couldn’t reach the table very well. Tenanciians were very tall and built their furniture to match.</p><p>            Loki picked her up and set her on his lap. A waiter delivered their drinks and Loki paid him. At the table beside them, two feathered female Shi’ar sat whispering to each other. They caught Loki’s glance and he winked at them which sent them into a giggling tizzy. Suddenly, he heard Kuna’s stomach growl from below him. It was louder than all the noise in the bar.</p><p>            “Was that your stomach?” he asked her, laughing in disbelief.</p><p>            She looked up and nodded, holding her tummy. Loki remembered the protein bars he had purchased for her earlier that day. He pulled the box from his pocket and opened it, pulling out a bar.</p><p>He opened the protein bar. It looked similar to Midgardian candy, separated into ten equal squares in neat pairs. He broke off a piece, popping it into his mouth. The outside melted in his mouth. It was smooth and creamy, sweet like chocolate with a chalky thickness. He assumed that was the protein part. He sucked on the tablet. Inside this creamy layer, there was a crunchy inside like a hard candy. It too tasted sweet but much crisper and tangy. He moved it around on his tongue.</p><p>On his lap, Kuna was playing with her new toy dragon. She moved it up and down in the air so that its wings would flap like it was flying. She was entranced by her gifts.</p><p>"Here," he said, pushing the candy to the side of his mouth. "Want some? It's like candy but it's really good for you." He offered the whole bar to Kuna. "Just don't swallow the whole thing right away. I think you're meant to suck on it for a while."</p><p>She happily took it, amazed at all the gifts and treats she was getting today. She bit off a whole row of the candy bar and was overwhelmed by the sweet flavor. She’d never tasted anything so sweet. She had never had candy before but she had seen some of the Masters children have it and they seemed to love it. Now she knew why.</p><p>Loki took out another bar from the box and turned it over to read the description on the back, still sucking on the inside of his piece. Beside them, the Shi’ar woman whispered to her friend, pointing her gaze towards Kuna eating the protein bar. Loki dismissed them. So what? He's got a kid with him in a bar. It's not like she's drinking. He made sure her water had no alcohol this time. They had learned the hard way about that.</p><p>He turned his attention back to the protein bar packet. Kuna continued sucking on the two candies in her mouth. Loki read through the nutritional information:</p><p> </p><p>                 'Protein, vitamins, and nutrients contained within each tablet:'</p><p> </p><p>Loki skimmed over the list of included nutrients, making note that just about everything was covered in it. His eyes landed on a section heading:</p><p> </p><p>                 'Suggested intake:</p><p>                 One (1) tablet contains sufficient daily caloric, protein, vitamin, and nutrient intake for carbon-based lifeforms of an average weight of greater than 500kg and an average height of greater than 400cm'</p><p> </p><p>Loki choked on his piece and snatched the rest of the bar out of Kuna's hand. She had eaten four whole tablets. The two Shi’ar women at the table beside them started laughing at Loki’s reaction. His face reddened as he read on:</p><p> </p><p>                 'Tablets per bar: 10</p><p>                 Intended for the maintenance and/or gain of weight and muscle in extra-large carbon-based lifeforms where sufficient daily nutrients are difficult to acquire.</p><p>                 Consult with your physician/healer/shaman/witch doctor before starting a weight gain regimen.’</p><p> </p><p>"Oh, gods," he said, covering his mouth. "What have I done?" He looked down at Kuna then back to the packet. Kuna looked up at him, confused and scared by him snatching away the candy he had given her.</p><p>“Did I do something wrong again?” she asked, cautiously.</p><p>"Oh, no. Sorry, Kuna," he said. "You haven’t done anything wrong. At all. You just can't have very many of these, I guess. In fact, I think you can only have one, like, once a year."</p><p>She frowned in discontent. She had liked the taste of the candy. She quickly swallowed the rest of the two tablets in her mouth.</p><p>"Five hundred kilos? What in the worlds?" he read again. There was no mistake. "How many are in here?"</p><p>He looked in the box. There were at least thirty bars inside. A sinking feeling came over him as he remembered how big the store owner was and the strange look he had given Loki when he purchased the bars. The strange look Loki had chalked up to him paying the giant store owner too much for the protein bars.</p><p>"Ooh," Loki realized. He put his face in his palm. Why couldn’t he do anything right?</p><p>Kuna was still confused by the situation. She looked up at Loki, expecting him to be angry with her for eating too much of the candy bar. He looked down at her and saw the fear in her eyes. His expression softened and he smiled at her.</p><p>"How many kilos do you weigh?" he asked her, grinning. She gave him a nervous smile but didn’t know the answer he wanted. He picked up her up, seriously weighing her in his hands for a moment, and hoisted her up. She giggled as he bounced her in midair. "Do you weigh 500 kilos?" he asked, laughing with her. “Actually, you're lucky if you weigh ten kilos soaking wet,” he muttered under his breath.</p><p>He set her back down between his knees and picked up the packet again, worriedly. He wondered if she would get sick again. Gods, he couldn't do anything right with her. He continued reading:</p><p> </p><p>           ‘Possible side effects include:’</p><p> </p><p>“Oh gods. Please, no,” he pleaded with the candy bar.</p><p> </p><p>            ‘Itching, rash, vomiting, indigestion, hair loss, increased hair growth, constipation, diarrhea, headaches, chills, drowsiness,</p><p>             insomnia, hypersomnia, impotence, increased libido, shortened attention span, forgetfulness, swollen tongue,</p><p>             sudden outbursts of crying, singing, cursing, and/or shouting, hallucinations, euphoria, drunkenness, lewd behavior,</p><p>             sudden depression, sudden muscle spasms, unconsciousness, coma, and, in some cases, death.’</p><p> </p><p>Loki’s jaw hit the table. This had to be a joke. “Do you get these side effects all at once?” he cried, rather more loudly than he had intended. He covered his mouth with his hand as people began to stare at them. “If my hair falls out, I’m going to stab someone,” he muttered, turning his attention back to the wrapper. “I thought there were just vitamins in this thing.”</p><p> </p><p>             ‘Warning: This product has not been tested for beings smaller than 400cm weighing less than 500 kg and is not recommended by the Nova Corps of Surgeons for weight maintenance or gain of any carbon-based lifeform regardless of species, race, age, weight, or stature. Results may vary.’</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, now you tell me. Why did that bastard even sell this to me at all? How is this shit even legal? Why is that not in BOLD LETTERS ON THE FRONT OF THE FUCKING WRAPPER!” he shouted. The tavern quieted as people turned their heads to look at Loki shouting at nothing.</p><p>Kuna did not like hearing him shout so angrily. She flinched at the volume of his voice. He saw her flinch and felt a sudden wave of guilt.</p><p>“I’m so sorry, Kuna,” he said, his eyes suddenly filling with tears. “I didn’t mean to yell. I’m not mad at you, I swear.”</p><p>Kuna timidly looked around. The other people were still staring. Loki wiped his eyes, furious that he was crying in public over absolutely nothing.</p><p>            Loki scanned the room. Everyone had gone back to their business now. He called a waiter over and ordered them some real food. The Shi’ar women were still giggling to themselves and glancing in Loki’s and Kuna’s direction every now and then.</p><p>"Kee-lohs. Keee-loooh," Kuna absentmindedly mimicked Loki from below, pulling his attention back to her. She had gone back to playing with her dragon and sleipnir on the table. "Kee-loh, Loh-kee, Loki!" she said, looking up at him, grinning with joy.</p><p>He smiled back at her. That was cute. He took a drink from his mug on the table, content with the way he had calmed her down in this tense situation. He didn’t want her to be so scared of him all the time. She was certainly beginning to trust him.</p><p>“Shit,” Kuna mimicked, as she went back to playing.</p><p>Loki’s eyes widened and he looked down. “Um,” he chuckled a little as he spoke. “You probably shouldn’t say that, Kuna.”</p><p>“Why not?”</p><p>“Well, I don’t really care that much but some people might think it’s rude.”</p><p>“But you say it.”</p><p>“I’m an adult.”</p><p>“Oh,” she said, looking down. “Okay, then.”</p><p>“Um, anyways. How are you feeling? Are you feeling, maybe, sick, at all?”</p><p>“No.”</p><p>“Tongue swollen?”</p><p>“Mmm... no,” she said, touching her tongue to the roof of her mouth to see.</p><p>“Any sudden urge to start singing?”</p><p>She looked up at Loki, brow raised. He was acting weird. “No...?” she said, a bit more like a question than an answer.</p><p>“Good. And we’re not dead, so no side effects yet, then.”</p><p>“Yay!” Kuna said, holding her toys in the air. In truth, Loki was acting so strangely, she wasn’t really sure what to say to him or what he was going on about. She was just happy to be not dead with Loki.</p><p>Loki couldn’t help but smile at her. Despite everything that had happened to them in the last two days, she was, for the most part, happy.</p><p><em>Gods, you're so soft</em>, the voice said, spooking Loki. </p><p>Loki nearly spit out his drink. HOw did <em>he</em> get out? He choked on the drink and swallowed hard, mentally trying to shove him out of his mind.</p><p><em>Can't get rid of me that easily,</em> he taunted back, filling Loki's head with a menacing cackling that echoed in his ears.</p><p>Loki squeezed his eyes shut until the laughter died down. He opened them slowly. It felt quiet now. He looked around. The tavern was still buzzing with energy but Loki’s ears felt muffled, his vision blurred at the edges.</p><p>Kuna felt Loki’s sudden shift in mood and looked up at him but his eyes focused on someone at the bar. He could only see the back of his head. Long, black hair, green cape, black armor. Loki’s heart started to pound. He had not conjured a copy, so who was this?</p><p>The man turned and Loki was face to face with himself. He stood and walked towards their table. Loki jumped to his feet and Kuna nearly fell across the table. Catching herself before she could fall, she looked up at Loki.</p><p>“What are you doing here?” he asked. Kuna looked around for the person he was speaking to but no one seemed to be holding the conversation.</p><p>“Get the Hel away from us,” Loki growled. “Don’t you dare.”</p><p>“Loki?” Kuna asked.</p><p>“Who are you? How are you doing this?” Loki continued. He paused between speaking as if listening to a response. Kuna looked around again to find the person Loki was talking to but there were no one around and no responses to his questions.</p><p>“Get out,” Loki growled through clenched teeth. There were tears in his eyes. “I SAID GET OUT!” Loki shouted, pointing at the door. The room fell silent again. Everyone was staring.</p><p>“Loki, there’s no one there!” Kuna cried.</p><p>Loki was broken from his fixation on the taunting copy. He was practically nose to nose with it, how could she not see? This was some magic or trick… or hallucination.</p><p>He grabbed the wrapper again. ‘Hallucinations’ it had listed as a side effect. He looked up again at the sneering image of himself but it was gone. He looked around at the room. Everyone was staring, whispering amongst themselves. The barkeep began to approach them.</p><p>“Kuna, we need to go,” he said, picking her up. She quickly grabbed her toys from the table and the satchel Loki was about to leave on the bench. He whisked her out of the tavern.</p><p>“Who were you talking to?” Kuna asked.</p><p>“No one.”</p><p>“It sounded like you were talking to someone.”</p><p>“It was no one. I’m – I’m – Why aren’t you having any of these side effects?”</p><p>Kuna shook her head. She didn’t know what he was talking about. She felt fine. Loki put her on the ground and she took his hand, walking alongside him. She put the satchel over her shoulder and stuffed her toys inside.</p><p>She had not been much paying attention when they walked to the tavern but she did not feel like Loki was walking the right way back to the hive. It felt like they were walking in circles. In fact, she thought that was the third time they had passed the tavern doors. She looked back at Loki but he had started humming and then broke into song:</p><p> </p><p>“Drøymde mik ein draum i nótt</p><p>um silki ok ærlig pell,</p><p>um hægindi svá djupt ok mjott,</p><p>um rosemd með engan skell.</p><p> </p><p>Ok i drauminom ek leit</p><p>sem gegnom ein groman glugg</p><p>þá helo feigo mennsko sveit,</p><p>hver sjon ol sin eiginn ugg.</p><p> </p><p>Hmm, hmm, hmm, I don’t know these words as well, hmm, hmm, hmm, Oh yeah!</p><p> </p><p>Ek fekk sofa lika vel,</p><p>ek truða þat væri best —</p><p>at hvila mik á goðu þel´</p><p>ok gløyma svá folki flest´.</p><p> </p><p>Friðinn, ef hann finzt, er hvar</p><p>ein firrest þann mennska skell,</p><p>fær veggja sik um, drøma þar</p><p>um silki ok ærlig pell.”</p><p> </p><p>He chuckled at the last part. Kuna was concerned. She hadn’t gotten a word of what he was singing. Was that another language? Had he just made that up? Maybe his magic Allspeak wasn’t working anymore. What was happening?</p><p>“Um… Loki?” She asked, softly, tugging on his hand. “Are you okay?”</p><p>“Hmm? Oh, I’ve never been better! Are you okay?”</p><p>“I think so?”</p><p>“You think? You should know!” he grabbed her under her arms and swung her around and then put her up on his shoulders. “I haven’t felt this great in centuries!”</p><p>“Are you drunk?” Kuna asked, leaning over his face.</p><p>“Possibly?” he said, shaking his head a little. “Are you having fun?”</p><p>“What were singing?”</p><p>“Hmm? What? Was I singing?”</p><p>“Yeah! What was it? It was pretty?”</p><p>“Hmm… Oh, it’s an old tune Bragi sang once. About how awful humans are and it’s just better to be away from them and just take a nap instead! Haha, he sang it for the Midgardians once and they loved it so much they wrote it down! Can you believe that?”</p><p>“You’re acting weird.”</p><p>“Is it a good weird or a bad weird.”</p><p>“Mmm… good weird?”</p><p>“You don’t sound very sure.”</p><p>“I’m not.”</p><p>“Dat is noth otay,” Loki said. His eyes widened. His tongue felt thick in his mouth. He quickened his pace. “Whath were we dalking abouth? Where am I gohing?” He stopped in the middle of the street. “Where-were-we gohing?”</p><p>“Um, I think we need to go back to Shakk’uri,” Kuna said, a little unsure of herself. Something was wrong with Loki for sure.</p><p>“Righth,” he said. “Goood ithea.”</p><p>            “I think we need to go that way,” Kuna pointed towards the dome of the hive sticking up above the buildings.</p><p>            “Righth,” he said.</p><p>            “I think that’s left?” she said, holding out her hands to be sure she knew.</p><p>            “Righth. Lepffft.”</p><p>            They had nearly arrived at the hive when Loki suddenly stopped again. He grabbed Kuna and put her down, running for the bushes lining the stairs. He vomited over the railing and hung there for a moment, spitting. Kuna grimaced. He was sick. Maybe he had too much candy?</p><p>            He retched again before straightening up. He put his hand to his head and swayed. She walked over to him and took his hand, steadying him a little. He leaned over.</p><p>            “Did you drink the water from the alcohol planet?”</p><p>            “Sssthort of,” he said, hiccupping.</p><p>            “I think it made you sick and that candy too,”</p><p>            “I phthink your righth,” he said, woozily.</p><p>            She led him up the steps slowly. It would not have been the first time she escorted a drunk man home. Master Machaluci was drunk all the time and always made her take him home. He liked to beat her on the head with his stick as they walked to make the townspeople laugh. At least Loki didn’t have a stick.</p><p>            He toddled along behind her, still holding her hand. His head was pounding. He scratched a niggling itch on his neck. It would not go away. He scratched harder and harder until his nails left marks but it was as if the itch was beneath his skin. Then, he felt another urge.</p><p>            “Hold on, Kuna,” he said. He ran to the bushes once more. “Turn around,” he ordered her. She did. She heard him unzip and relieve himself, though, it sounded like he was missing the bush and hitting the pavement instead. When he was done he returned to her. Kuna did not take his hand this time.</p><p>            They continued up the steps until they reached the door. Kuna pushed it open then heard a horrendous sound come from Loki’s stomach.</p><p>            “Oh dear,” he said and bolted through the door and down the hallway, nearly pushing over one of the small men.</p><p>            “Is he alright?” the man asked Kuna.</p><p>            “Umm… I – I think he had too much to drink and eat tonight.”</p><p>            “Well, that’s a shame. Mother Shakk’uri is expecting you both for dinner.”</p><p>            “Umm, both of us?”</p><p>            “Yes, my lady.” He bowed a little.</p><p>            “I’m not a lady. I’m just – just me.”</p><p>            “Well ‘just me’, I will tell Mother Shakk’uri that Lopt is indisposed. She will still want to see you at dinner, though. I will fetch you when it is time.”</p><p>            “Oh, um, okay,” Kuna said.</p><p>            He scuttled off before Kuna could say anything else. She ran down the hallway towards their room. There had been so many ups and downs and twists and turns when they had been led there before, she wasn’t sure if she could find it again. After a few minutes of being lost, she heard Loki sobbing from a room nearby.</p><p>She ran towards it and found their room and Loki laying face down in the bed with no clothes on. She quickly covered her face.</p><p>“Um, Loki?”</p><p>“Mmm fmmm hmm mmm,” he said, muffled by the pillow he had his face smashed in.</p><p>“You don’t have any clothes on,” Kuna said, shyly, still covering her eyes.</p><p>She heard the bed squeak and then Loki’s bare feet padding across the floor. The bathroom door shut behind him. He was puking again.</p><p>“Loki, should I get a healer, maybe?”</p><p>“Ask for… Tena’gli!” he shouted.</p><p>“Okay!” Kuna did not like him shouting. She ran out the door and found the first man she could.</p><p>“Yes, little lady. Can I help you?”</p><p>“We – We need Tena’gli! Loki’s sick!”</p><p>“Who?”</p><p>“Tena’gli! Is she a healer?”</p><p>“Oh, oh, yes. I’ll go get her.”</p><p>Kuna ran back to the room and stopped dead in her tracks. Had she said ‘Loki’ instead of ‘Lopt’? They were so similar and she was not paying attention. Would Loki be mad? Should she tell him? What if he hit her? Or worse, what if he left her behind or sold her?</p><p>“Kuna? Isth sthhe coming?”</p><p>“Y – Yes,” she said, sheepishly.</p><p>“Remind me to stab that merchant who sold us those candybars, tomorrow!”</p><p>“L – Loki?” she approached the door of the bathroom. Loki had a towel wrapped around his waist now. He was sitting in front of the toilet. His face was pale, he looked exhausted. He turned to her, tears in his eyes.</p><p>“I’m stho sthorry, Kuna,” he wailed. “You shthouldn’t hafve to sthee this!”</p><p>“Loki, I think I made a mistake.”</p><p>“Whath?”</p><p>“I – I went to find someone to get – to get Tena’gli. And – and when I found one of those men, I – I – I don’t know what I was thinking. I – I called you Loki instead of Lopt. I’m sorry, Loki! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to! I – I was just worried about you! I am worried about you!”</p><p>Loki stopped crying and stared at Kuna for a moment. She was sobbing and covering her face. Her whole body trembled with fear. Loki sighed.</p><p>“Ith’s noth you pffault,” he said, tongue still thick in his mouth. “I blew my own covffer in the tavffern. Asth sthoon asth we geth those Shapfucks, hehe,” he giggled at himself. “Those Shapf’aks, we’ll leafve thisth planeth behindth.”</p><p>“You’re not mad?”</p><p>“Madth? Plobably. Angrly? No.” He shook his head. “Tell me, am I going baldth?” He looked down so Kuna could see the top of his head.</p><p>She sniffled and looked through her tears. “No,” she said. His hair was still fine. He sighed.</p><p>“Goodth,” he said. “Whath’s taking that woman stho long?”</p><p>Suddenly, a female Tenanciian appeared in the doorway. Kuna moved so she could get by.</p><p>“Oh dear, what’s going on here?” she said, shocked by the nearly naked Loki.</p><p>He produced the wrapper of the candybar and waved it in her face.</p><p>“Good Mother,” she said. “Didn’t you read the wrapper? Come on,” she said, pulling him to his feet. “Kuna, my dear. You should probably stay here while I treat him. Mother Shakk’uri will be here soon.”</p><p>“No!” Kuna shouted. She immediately shied away at her outburst. She had never spoken back to an adult that way. “I – I want to go with him.”</p><p>“Very well,” Tena’gli said.</p><p>Kuna followed them out and back through the ups and downs and twists and turns of the hive. They arrived on the ground floor. Shakk’uri was waiting.</p><p>“Oh my!” she said at the sight of the nearly naked Loki. “Kuna, darling, come here. Let Tena’gli do her work.”</p><p>“I – I want to stay with him,” Kuna said. The room fell silent.</p><p>“Kuna, please, come with me,” Shakk’uri said, opening her arms to her.</p><p>Kuna shook her head. She had a bad feeling from head to toe. Something was wrong.</p><p>Suddenly, men with big guns approached from all angles. They wore blue armor with golden ‘V’s on their chestplates. One grabbed her and pulled her away from Loki.</p><p>“Sthop!” Loki shouted. “Don’th thouch her!”</p><p>Kuna screamed as they wrangled her and practically threw her at Shakk’uri. She caught her and held her back as she struggled.</p><p>“No! No!”</p><p>“Kuna, stop! Listen to me! Do you know who this man is? What he’s done? He’s a murderer!”</p><p>“No, he’s not!” Kuna cried, fighting to get away from her.</p><p>“He tried to destroy a whole planet and then tried to take over another one! He’s in league with the Titan, Thanos! He’s dangerous! He’s a trickster! He’s just using you!”</p><p>“No! He’s nice! You don’t know him!”</p><p>The men surrounded Loki, pointing their guns at him. He put up his hands.</p><p>“You’re not really going to shoot me in front of the girl, are you?” He seemed suddenly better.</p><p>“See!” Shakk’uri said, roughly holding onto Kuna. “He was tricking you the whole time!”</p><p>“Shut your whore mouth!” Loki shouted at her. There were gasps from around the room. “What would you know?”</p><p>“That’s enough,” one of the men said. “Loki Odinson, you are under arrest for the destruction of Jotunheim and the merciless attack of the uncontacted, Terra—"</p><p>“What the Hel did you call me? What they couldn’t even summon Syfon warriors for me? What rank are you? A Corpsman? The Nova Corps is really becoming stretched far too thin.”</p><p>“This will get us all ranked as Centurions, so you can shut your mouth before I shut it for you.”</p><p>“I’d like to see you try. I’ll kill all of you with my bare hands and I’ll do it naked,” Loki spat.</p><p>Loki pounced on him, grabbing his gun and aiming it for the other men. He fired off two shots, killing two of the Corpsmen. They opened fire and he used the first man as a shield. His comrades fired upon him with their blasters and killed him instantly.</p><p>Shakk’uri began dragging Kuna away. The Tenanciian men gathered around her, standing on each others shoulders, forming a living shield around their mother.</p><p>“No! Get off of me!” Kuna shouted.</p><p>“No! You’re mine now! You’ll be safe with me!”</p><p>“No! You’re fucking shit!” Kuna said and kicked her as hard as she could.</p><p>Shakk’uri let go of her, grabbing at her injured leg. Kuna ran through the legs of the Tenanciian men, towards Loki.</p><p>“No! Stop her! There’s a child in the crossfire!” Shakk’uri shouted. “CEASE FIRE!</p><p>Loki was busy strangling one of the Nova Corpsmen when he saw Kuna running towards him. Then, through the door, a Nova Centurion marched in, a Syfon Warrior standing close by him.</p><p>“Kuna! Stop right there!” Loki shouted to her. His tongue no longer thick, he had used an ample amount of his magic in an effort to heal himself as soon as the Nova Corps revealed themselves and he had come to. Kuna came screeching to a halt at the sight of the two massive men approaching the fight. The man in purple stretched out his hand at Loki. Suddenly, Loki cried out and fell to his knees. A field of energy seemed to billow out of him. The energy was sucked back towards the man’s hand. Loki doubled over as the Syfon absorbed his energy for himself.</p><p>“Don’t hurt him!” Kuna shouted. She threw her hands out in front of her and a massive wall of fire erupted from her palms, sending the two men reeling back through the door. She shrieked and fell, nearly unconscious from the effort and pain.</p><p>Loki scrambled to his feet, producing the tesseract to teleport them away. The Nova Centurion fired off a blast from his gun. Hearing it, Loki turned to block it from hitting Kuna. The blast hit him in the chest and sent him skidding across the tile floor. The tesseract bounced over Kuna and landed in behind her.</p><p>“There it is! Get it, quick!” Shakk’uri ordered the Tenanciian men.</p><p>The swarmed towards Kuna. She grabbed the tesseract and cradled it against her chest. Loki was struggling to regain himself after the blow from the blaster. He was dizzy and his eyes could not focus. The Centurion was approaching them again. He grabbed Loki’s arm.</p><p>In a flash, Loki grabbed the blaster and shoved it up under the man’s chin. The Centurion fired it himself, blowing his head clean off. Loki turned the blaster on the Syfon but he had his attention drawn towards Kuna. Loki heard Kuna cry out as the Syfon tried to drain her energy too. She writhed in pain, clutching the tesseract close to her.</p><p>Loki pulled the trigger of the blaster, holding it back to let off multiple blasts. The Syfon raised his hand and redirected the blasts back at Loki. He dropped the blaster and raised a force field to protect himself and Kuna. The strain of using his magic with such low energy made stars sparkle in his vision. His body felt heavy with weakness. The blasts slammed into the force field.</p><p>Loki could not keep the field up against the pounding of each blast. It began to crack and splinter. He glanced over at Kuna. The Tenanciian men were swarming her, kicking and punching her to make her drop the tesseract. She was laying on top of it, keeping it from their reach. She was crying. He pulled one hand away from the force field and flung it backwards at them. Several knives appeared from his fingertips, each one killing a Tenanciian but it was not enough to get them off of Kuna.</p><p>Loki turned his attention back to the Syfon, who was gearing up for another attack. The man lifted his hand and unleashed a beam of energy onto Loki’s force field. The field shattered like glass in a window. Loki collapsed, the beam just missing him as he fell.</p><p>Kuna saw him fall through the legs of the Tenanciians. They were smothering her. Their hands grabbing at her. She kicked at them and screamed, hugging the tesseract. She did not know what to do. Loki was on the floor a few feet from her and the Syfon Warrior was fast approaching. This was one of the men Loki told her wanted him dead.</p><p>“STOP!” she shouted and pounded her fist on the floor.</p><p>The ground shook and the Tenanciian men flew backwards in all directions, hitting the walls and high balconies, breaking their backs or necks upon landing. The Syfon flew backwards as well as if hit with a massive wall of wind. She cried out again as a wrenching pain filled every fiber of her body. She felt as if she had been dipped in lava or doused with acid. Her head spun, her vision began to fade but her eyes focused on Loki laying on the ground nearby.</p><p>“Loki!” she cried, afraid she had hurt him too. There was a big hole in his chest and she didn’t know how it got there. She struggled to her feet, trying to run to him but stumbled and fell. The Syfon Warrior was regaining himself, ready to unleash a powerful blast on the two hostiles. Loki moaned. Kuna panicked, she reached into the satchel at her side, searching for her toys to comfort her as she would surely be dead soon.</p><p>Her hands landed on something cool to the touch. She gripped it and pulled it out: a beautifully forged dagger. She removed it from its scabbard. The Syfon stopped, looming over her.</p><p>“Put it down,” he ordered. Kuna stared at the blade. It felt nice in her hand.</p><p>“Put it down,” the Syfon ordered once more.</p><p>Kuna could feel Loki breathing hard beside her. What would they do to him? To her? Why had Shakk’uri done this after everything they had done for her? Kuna didn’t want to look at the mean man that was walking towards them. Every part of her wanted to cower, to run away, to apologize, to make it stop. But she knew it wouldn’t work. It never did.</p><p>“Give it to me,” he said, putting out his hand. She lifted the dagger towards him, turning it around. He lowered his hand to her. She sniffled, hesitating. She liked the way the light glimmered on the blade; the knotwork etching turned black against the blinding light. Finally, she looked up to meet the man’s eyes. He prompted her to give him the dagger again. She lifted it towards him and then slammed the point of the dagger into his arm. Blood gushed forth. The Syfon staggered back, holding his arm, desperately trying to stem the blood flow.</p><p>Kuna looked around frantically for the tesseract. She had left it on the floor where she had laid beneath the pile of Tenanciians. Shakk’uri was marching towards it in her massive strides. Kuna dove back on top of it, snatching it before Shakk’uri could stoop to grab it. She kicked Kuna in the face, sending her onto her back. Her nose bled rivers of red. She was stunned by the blow and the tesseract fell to the floor.</p><p>“Give. That. To. Me.” Shakk’uri growled, reaching for the tesseract. Loki propped himself up on his hands, desperately trying to stand, to help, despite his weakness. He found his feet, slowly and was ready to tear off Shakk’uri’s head with his last strength. Shakk’uri stooped to pick up the tesseract. Kuna rolled from side to side, crying. The moment before Shakk’uri’s hand touched the tesseract, Kuna attacked. Another blast of fire erupted from her hands, sending both Shakk’uri and Loki reeling backwards. Kuna cried out but gritted her teeth through the pain. She grabbed the tesseract and dove towards Loki.</p><p>Shakk’uri was badly burned. Her clothes and body were on fire. The giant woman flailed around as her surviving men chased after her, trying to put her out. Kuna looked up towards the door. It seemed an entire army of Nova Corpsmen were lining up, ready to demolish the hive to get to them. There were others now too. More men in different uniforms, holding guns at them. She looked down at the tesseract in her hand and then at Loki.</p><p>“Kuna, no! Don’t!” Loki said, reaching for her.</p><p>Time had seemed to slow to a near halt. The Nova Corps were firing their weapons, the blasts zeroing in on them. Loki’s hand moved in slow motion towards the tesseract. She took Loki’s hand instead.</p><p>Kuna stared into the tesseract’s glimmering face and pleaded, “Take us somewhere nice, please!”</p><p>The vapors surrounded them and they were gone.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>If you'd like to check out the song Loki sang in this chapter as well as a translation for it, check out this website (https://www.realmofhistory.com/2017/08/02/oldest-norse-song-codex-runicus/).</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Life, the Universe, and the Meaning of Everything</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>            Kuna felt like she was flying, the wind was whipping through her hair. She tried to open her eyes but they immediately filled with tears. All around her there was darkness with flicks of blue light swirling about her. Vaguely, she could feel Loki holding onto her. In her hands, was the tesseract. It felt like it was trying to buck her off, flinging her up and down, left and right. She struggled to hold onto it.</p>
<p>            Then, in front of her, she could see the brown orb of a planet coming up fast. This had never happened before when they had used the tesseract, but then again, Loki had always been in control of it. They were not slowing down. She turned her head away, bracing herself for the impact with the ground. They crashed into the planet but Kuna felt like she went further, crashing through the glass of the tesseract and into the blue, shimmering ocean inside. Then, she was flung into darkness once more.</p>
<p>            She could not see anything. There was no sound, no light, no smell, no feeling. Had she died? This didn’t feel like hells. She didn’t really know what hells felt like. She assumed it would be painful, but this was peaceful. She felt as though she were floating at the bottom of an ocean abyss. She could feel nothing but the emptiness all around her. She could still breathe, so it wasn’t a real ocean, she figured.</p>
<p>As she floated there, she began to feel a presence. In the absence of all her senses, this presence was soothing. She tried to focus on it as it moved closer to her. There was a familiarity to it but she couldn’t place it. Slowly, the presence began to spin around her. It was soon joined by another and another and another until there were six of these strange presences swirling in a circle around her. They seemed to vibrate and hum with the same frequency. It made Kuna feel peaceful, despite them moving faster and faster around her. They were causing a beautiful hum that Kuna could sense deep inside her. However, in front of her eyes – if she even still had them – she still saw nothing but darkness.</p>
<p>Curious about these presences, she tried to stretch out her hand to touch them but her hand did not move on her command. Kuna did not have time to feel fear at the fact she could not move, as now the hum began to intensify. The circling essences began to close in around her, spinning faster and faster. A rushing sensation overcame Kuna. Energy began to pulsate around her. They felt as if they were just inches away from her.</p>
<p>There was a sudden explosion of light and color. Kuna’s senses rushed over her like a wave. She was overwhelmed by what she saw but she had no time to take any of it in before she was sent hurtling through the newly formed space all around her. Beside her, a blue gem glowed. Without its pristine carrying case, it had been difficult for Kuna to recognize the tesseract, but now she could feel its friendly energies guiding her. For a brief moment, Kuna could see five other brilliantly colored gems fly off in different directions.</p>
<p> All around her she saw clouds giving birth to little lights: the stars. The lights began to circle each other just as the humming presences had done her. Galaxies formed; massive collections of spinning stars and dust. Planets and moons formed, colliding in massive explosions that sent debris flying into the new universe. A balance of chaos and order surrounded little Kuna.</p>
<p>Kuna’s eyes glittered at the creation of all things around her. She and the tesseract flew through the universe together. It showed her life forming on the newly formed planets. It showed her how life began to evolve; how some came to stand on two legs, others four, some even more, some none at all; how they made tools and conjured fire; how they looked to the stars for the answers to their deepest questions.</p>
<p>Time flew by before her little eyes. The tesseract showed her the immense beauty of the first dying star, as it grew and grew, and then cooled and cooled, before exploding into a brilliance of light and dust. They continued to zoom through space, sometimes closing in on an event, others retreating to an unimaginable distance. Kuna saw branches of dust, incorporating innumerable galaxies; branches like those of the great trees on Torileena. Massive trunks and swaying limbs made up of trillions of galaxies made up of trillions of stars and tiny planets with clinging life, that swayed in the breeze of the first explosion.</p>
<p>They drew back further and Kuna could see even more universe trees. Her little eyes struggled to grasp the enormity of it all. Her mind agonizing over the vastness of the forest laid out in front of her, which seemed to stretch on <em>ad infinitum.</em> The tesseract drew them in again, back to her tree. The tesseract began showing her the beauty of the creation it had made, again. Planets with mountain ranges of volcanoes, planets made entirely of diamonds that sang to her as she passed, flat planets, round planets, planets that were alive.</p>
<p>The life that clung to them were growing smarter and some more violent as a result. She watched in horror as they began to destroy each other with the weapons they had made. She watched as they began to enslave one another. The sight frightened her.</p>
<p>The tesseract turned them away from the horrors. It showed her stacks of swirling dust creating more stars for the growing universe. It showed her galaxies colliding but never touching; combining and swirling around each other until the separated once more. She laughed at the sheer beauty of it all. She outstretched her arms and pretended to fly like a dragon.</p>
<p>Once again, it turned her view back to the tiny planets in the galaxies. She watched as some of the life that had arisen from the planets started to reach for the stars, flying amongst each other with great ships. She smiled as they began to find the answers they had been searching for; as they found out they were not alone. But the happiness for them was short-lived as they began to war with each other, destroying one another. One came to power over another, causing untold suffering and grief. Another came to power over them and then another over them and on and on. Kuna wept for them.</p>
<p>Another glowing gem, this one purple, shot past them, colliding with a planet. She gasped at the impact it made. The life that walked the planet began to fight over the gem. One gargantuan being tried to control it and in so doing, wiped out all the life on the planet. The sight made her tremble with fear. She saw this over and over again with the other gems as they visited the planets around the universe. Again and again, life tried to control them; they tried to give themselves more and take away from others. They tried to conquer whole systems, whole galaxies, only to fail.</p>
<p>            They passed by a gigantic hole in space. It sucked in everything around it: stars, planets, whole galaxies. Nothing came from it, not even the smallest flicker of light. Its hunger never seemed to be sated as it just kept eating and eating. Kuna did not like this thing. It was scary, not beautiful like the rest of the universe the tesseract was showing her. She wanted the tesseract to take them away from there. It seemed to acknowledge her fear and turn them away from the mean black hole. They sped away, towards new beauties.</p>
<p>Suddenly, Kuna felt a tug on her being. The tesseract let out a vocalization like a cry of pain. The two of them were violently jerked back toward the black hole. They were so far away now, Kuna could not imagine that the black hole was trying to eat them. Another painful yank pulled them closer. Kuna tried to swim through space away from the giant hole but it just pulled her in faster. She reached out for the tesseract and grabbed it. The gem pulsated in her hands.</p>
<p>A sickening, stretching feeling came over her. She closed her eyes and clutched the tesseract tightly in her hands. Her body burned as if they had flown too close to one of the stars. She felt a horrific pain like she was being torn apart. She was sure this was a portal into hells. She lost track of herself for a moment before she and the tesseract were spat out onto a planet, or what was left of one.</p>
<p>Kuna turned over on the ground to find a massive man looming over her. His skin was deep purple like he had held his breath for too long. His muscles were big and scary and he had a golden hand. He smiled and laughed at her.</p>
<p>“How cute,” he said, laughing at her. He turned and pointed to the sky with his golden fingers. “Go see what you’re savior has done.”</p>
<p>The tesseract picked her up and flew off in the direction he had pointed. They circled a blue planet, covered in large swaths of ocean, painted with blots of green land, and white swirling clouds. She found the planet delightfully beautiful. Life walked its surface, only just discovering flight and electricity, like Loki had shown her; still looking to the stars for signs that they too were not alone.</p>
<p>The tesseract began to cry and scream again like it was in pain. It exploded, creating a hole like the one that had swallowed them but this time, instead of eating everything, it spat out an army. The little people on the planet tried to fight back. This was not the answer they had wanted to their questions. Not at all.</p>
<p>Kuna was drawn in closer to the battle, circling a mighty tower in a city on an island. The attackers zoomed around her in flying vehicles, killing the innocent ground-dwellers with blasts of energy. One of them flew past her. She saw a flash of gold and green and felt a familiar presence. She was pulled along behind it. Above her, the tesseract still vomited out armies of attackers.</p>
<p>As she closed in on the vehicle, she could see a figure on it with huge golden horns. She sped closer and caught up with it. Loki stood tall on the front of the flying vehicle, commanding the armies from above. He blasted at the life below without restraint. She felt another presence with them.</p>
<p>“He’s no god,” the voice of the big, purple man said. “He’s a demon.”</p>
<p>Kuna could feel this man’s presence encircling Loki. She could feel the anger and hatred of both of them.</p>
<p>“Loki, stop!” she cried to him but he did not hear her. She flew in front of him and yelled again, “Loki, please! Stop!” but he did not see her. Something was wrong with him, something was wrong with his eyes. They weren’t his eyes. She reached out to grab him but he did not feel her. She hit his face.</p>
<p>She felt a sudden burst of pain through her body. She closed her eyes and saw a flash of the purple man, his arm raised to hit her, his teeth clenched in a horrible smile. She heard Loki’s voice cry out in anguish.</p>
<p>“You can be king again,” the purple man said. He stood over Loki’s naked, bloody body. Loki’s chest was heaving, his body shaking from the pain. He was pale, his face drenched in sweat. His eyes looked blackened. “I can help you.”</p>
<p>Another tall, thin man stood nearby. His skin gray, his mouth black. He made a smooth gesture towards Loki. Kuna could feel magic at work. Loki convulsed and screamed in pain. Shards of glass stabbed at him causing his blood to boil.</p>
<p>“Stop, please!” he pleaded them. The pain stopped. “I’ll do it.”</p>
<p>The purple man approached him, holding a scepter with a blue gemstone in its crown. Kuna could feel the presence of one of the other gems. It must have been inside the gemstone. The purple man pressed the point of the blade into Loki’s forehead. Kuna gasped, afraid he might hurt him.</p>
<p>“Loki!” she cried out but he did not hear.</p>
<p>Tendrils of blue energy broke out across his forehead and surrounded his eyes, turning them an eerie shade of icy, blue. A smile crept across his face.</p>
<p>“Tell me when I begin,” he said.</p>
<p>“Now.”</p>
<p>Kuna felt as though she hit a wall and crashed through it. Once more, she was on the blue planet, flying beside Loki.</p>
<p>Her chest felt tight, her fists clenched. She had to stop the purple man from hurting Loki. She shoved into him with all her might. An explosion rang out and his vehicle crashed into the tall building, sending him flying inside. A big, green monster picked him up and smashed him around on the floor. She felt he deserved at least a bit of it. The purple man’s presence began to fade from Loki. She felt a sudden grip around her chest as if she was being yanked out of flight. She was pulled up through the hole in the sky. It closed behind her and the tesseract followed her. She saw a massive spaceship looming over them.</p>
<p>            Something zipped past them. Kuna watched as the ship suddenly exploded. The shockwave hit her like a gigagrunt. Blinded by the light of the explosion, all she could see was whiteness. She shook her head as things began to come into focus. She was laying on the ground somewhere. It was a cold, hard ground. She blinked and the world came into focus. She was laying in a crater on a planet made up of the broken remains of moons, asteroids, and other planets. On the ground beside her, was the tesseract in its cube form. She reached for it when the purple man’s voice boomed all around her.</p>
<p>            “Why don’t I show you my future, little one?” he said.</p>
<hr/>
<p>            “Kuna! KUNA!” Loki cried. He was frantic. They had crashed into this planet and for a moment Kuna had been there before another portal opened and then she was gone, the tesseract with her, leaving him there alone. He could not feel her aura anymore nor the stone’s.</p>
<p>He was completely alone on this barren, desert planet. All around him, he could see nothing - no one - for miles, except for sand dunes. The wind whipped around him, blowing sand into his eyes and mouth. He put his hand up to cover his face and shouted into the wind again.</p>
<p>            “Kuna!” he shouted again. “Come back! Please!” He fell onto the sand, slamming his fists onto the ground. The earth rippled beneath his fists, creating a wave of dust that reverberated around him for miles. Despite his weakness and lack of energy, he could not help his emotional magic. Stars flew before his vision at the unintentional exertion.</p>
<p>He had let this happen, he could not protect her, he could not keep her from the cube. There was no hope. He could do nothing to help her. He had no energy to conjure anything, not even clothes for himself.</p>
<p>His muscles trembled as he stared at the ground, trying to figure out what to do. He’d lost her.</p>
<hr/>
<p>            The purple man held Kuna upside down by her leg and swung her a little. She was terrified. He could see her. No one else had been able to: not Loki, nor any of the other life forms they had encountered, not even the purple man the first time she had seen him, but now he could see her. And touch her.</p>
<p>            “Ah, I remember when they were this small,” he mused. “Your daddy has made me very upset, little one.”</p>
<p>            “M-my daddy?” she asked, quite confused.</p>
<p>            “He took something that belongs to me. Something that you have now. And I need it back,” he said, pointing at the tesseract.</p>
<p>            Kuna glanced at the cube floating beside her. She shook her head, no.</p>
<p>            “Well, I tried asking nicely,” he said and grabbed at it. The tesseract reacted, sending out a volt of electricity-like lightning that burned his hand up to his forearm. He recoiled and dropped Kuna. The tesseract dropped with her.</p>
<p>As they both impacted the ground, Kuna saw visions flash before her eyes: <em>The purple man with his golden hand, little lights glowing in the knuckles; Loki holding up the cube to the purple man. </em></p>
<p><em>He held the tesseract in the palm of his golden hand. He crushed it</em>, <em>revealing the little gem within. The scream rang out in Kuna’s ears as the gem’s energy writhed in pain. The purple man snapping his golden fingers; pain, a terrible, horrible pain that encompassed her entire being and would not stop; the universe trees wilting, dying, turning to dust.</em></p>
<p>            Kuna’s vision went blindingly white for a moment. She shook her head to make it go back to normal. Her ears were ringing; she couldn’t hear. The purple man was holding his hand, baring his teeth at it. He looked up at her, his eyes burning with hatred and malice. Four other beings were slowly approaching from behind the purple man. One, she recognized from before. The one that was torturing Loki. Her breath came quickly in her chest. She was petrified.</p>
<p>            The tesseract made a noise from beside her. A blissful vocalization calling out to her. She slowly turned her head towards it and the beings attacked. She dove for it.</p>
<p>            “NO!” Thanos cried out, but Kuna and the tesseract were gone before he or the Black Order could lay hands on her.</p>
<p>            As the tesseract teleported Kuna away, she saw more visions: <em>People turning to dust; plants and animals dissolving into nothingness; entire systems imploding into soot; the universe trees were being overcome by the ashes like a deadly creeper, girdling their trunks.</em> She closed her eyes, trying to make the visions stop but they would not. <em>She saw the beauty that the gems created turning to darkness and desolation.</em></p>
<p>            “Stop,” she pleaded with the tesseract. “Please, take me back to Loki!”</p>
<hr/>
<p>            Loki sobbed, hugging himself, rocking back and forth on the spot. The items from their satchel were strewn all around him, slowly becoming buried in the sand that blew over them. He had frantically torn everything apart, looking for anything to help him. He had found nothing. Now, the voice in his head was taunting him again and he could not make it stop.</p>
<p>
  <em>You’re pathetic! Look at you! Sobbing because of a child? You should be more worried that you lost the fucking tesseract! Now, we’re stuck here, you idiot.</em>
</p>
<p>It was hot. Loki hated the heat. His Jotun blood could not take it. He was boiling in the massive sun that loomed overhead and there was no shade anywhere. He produced very little sweat and was quickly overheating. His body trembled with exhaustion. He put his head in his arms, crying. The tears evaporated off of his arms so quickly, they provided little relief from the heat.</p>
<p>Suddenly, a portal opened above his head and Kuna came tumbling through it, screaming. He leapt up, holding up his arms to catch her.</p>
<p>
  <em>Forget her! Catch the tesseract! Get out of my way! I’m taking control, here!</em>
</p>
<p>The voice took a corporeal form in Loki’s mind, attempting to take over. He broke free from the prison Loki had made for him. Loki did everything in his power to stop him but he was weak.</p>
<p>In a split second, Loki’s eyes darted to the blue cube flying beside Kuna. He reached for both the girl and the cube, both of them hitting him full force and knocking him back but his arms wrapped around Kuna, hugging her tight.</p>
<p>            She writhed about in his arms, screaming and crying. “NO! NO! Don’t let him take it! Don’t let him take it!”</p>
<p>            “Woah, woah!” Loki said, trying to calm her. “It’s me!”</p>
<p>            “He can’t have it! We can’t let him snap his fingers! We can’t!”</p>
<p>            Loki felt a chill flood his body and it was not his frost giant blood. How could she know about that? He felt a rumble within him as the other aspect of himself roiled with hatred and suspicion at Kuna. Loki pushed it down with all his might.</p>
<p>            “Kuna, look at me? What are you talking about?”</p>
<p>            She struggled in his arms, trying desperately to reach for the tesseract that was laying on the ground just a few feet away. Loki’s eyes landed on it. He exhaled faintly at the sight of it. The glimmer within the cube called out to him. He reached for it, slowly.</p>
<p>            “No! No! We can’t let him have it!” Kuna cried. She dove out of his lap for the tesseract. He pushed her out of the way. She rolled down the dune a few feet. Loki snatched the tesseract out of the sand, reeling his arms in with a jerk. He held the cube close to his chest. Kuna sat up in shock that he had shoved her. He stared down at her, briefly appalled by his behavior.</p>
<p>            Then, he felt the lovely energy reverberating from the cube. It was intoxicating. It overpowered him just as the voice in his head had. He took a deep breath from his nose and absorbed some of the tesseract’s energy. The sting of the tesseract’s heat radiated down from his hands, throughout his whole body, but he could feel himself becoming invigorated once more. Clothes conjured themselves onto his body, the wound on his chest began to slowly knit itself back together.</p>
<p>            Kuna gasped and screamed, tackling Loki. “No! Can’t you hear it! It doesn’t like it! You’re hurting it!” she screamed at him. She hit him several times on the chest and face. Loki still held tight to the tesseract in his left hand, hoisting it above his head.</p>
<p>            “Kuna, stop! It’s me! It’s Loki! Ow! Knock it off!” Loki struggled with her, trying to catch her little fists.</p>
<p>            “Give it back!” she shouted, crawling over his body, reaching for the cube. “You’re hurting it!”</p>
<p>            Loki did a backward somersault, landing on his knees. Kuna tumbled off of him. He held the tesseract aloft. She jumped up and down, hitting him over and over with the hardest punches she could muster, which felt rather more like being hit by a fluffy cloud to Loki.</p>
<p>            He watched her first temper tantrum with arrogance. “It must be awful, being so tiny,” he teased with a little smirk.</p>
<p>This only enraged little Kuna more. She tried to climb on Loki like he was a tree, but he put his free hand on her face and gently pushed her back onto the sand. She plopped down. A glint of light in the sand caught her eye: the shiny dagger from Tenanci’i.</p>
<p>            “Don’t you dare!” he warned, following her line of sight. He pointed a finger at her to make sure she understood.</p>
<p>She dove for it, scooping it up. She stood and pointed at him.</p>
<p>            “Put that down before you get hurt,” Loki ordered her.</p>
<p>            “Put down the tesseract,” Kuna ordered back. She immediately broke eye contact with Loki, fearful at talking back to an adult, let alone ordering one to do something.</p>
<p>            “Kuna, I’m not messing around. Put that down. You don’t know what you’re doing.”</p>
<p>            The tesseract made a vocalization to her again. A cry for help. Kuna charged. She stabbed at Loki but missed as he took an easy sidestep out of the way. Kuna took a stab at his legs, but he danced around her. Catching her by her free arm, Loki held her up. She swung at him with the dagger and missed again.</p>
<p>“You stop that right now, young lady! Give me that before you hurt yourself!” He tried to grab the dagger out of her hand before he lost his fingers. She growled and flailed at him, swinging the dagger this way and that with her eyes closed.</p>
<p>            “Alright! That’s it! I’m putting this away! It’s freaking you out!” he shouted. He moved his left hand in a circular motion and the tesseract disappeared into his pocket.</p>
<p>            “No! You’re a big meany, just like the purple man! You’re hurting the tesseract!”</p>
<p>            “The who?” Loki’s eyes darkened and he held her closer to him. His tone scared her and she stopped long enough for Loki to grab her hand. He slid the dagger out of her fingers and threw it into the ground with such force that only the hilt stood above the sand. Suddenly, Loki felt an electricity within his aura. A tiny portal opened and the tesseract reappeared out of his pocket and plopped onto the sand.</p>
<p>            “WHAT?!” Loki screamed, staring at the cube now glinting up at him from the ground.</p>
<p>            “L—Let go of me!” Kuna cried, reaching for the tesseract with her free hand. “I have to keep it safe if you won’t!” She clawed at Loki’s fingers, trying to free her wrist, but he was too strong. She swung and planted one foot as hard as she could right between his legs. He let out a yelp and dropped her, falling to his knees and putting his hands between his legs to stem the pain. She dove on top of the tesseract, cradling it.</p>
<p>Loki turned over on his side, holding himself for a moment, trying to regain his breath. The voice in his head cackled at him. How did the tesseract just teleport itself out of his pocket? Why was Kuna suddenly acting like a little warrior gremlin?</p>
<p>            “This is anarchy,” he puffed. “Mutiny.”</p>
<p>            <em>I told you this would happen,</em> the voice said. <em>You should have listened to me and killed the kid when I told you.</em></p>
<p>            “Shut up, you git,” Loki muttered, his face pressed into the burning sand.</p>
<p>            <em>Well I </em>am<em> you so what does that make you.</em></p>
<p>            Loki pushed himself up, slowly. He crawled towards Kuna who was sobbing on the ground, hugging the tesseract like one of her toys. He collected her actual toys from their scattered positions on the ground where Loki had thrown them. He carefully brushed them off and returned to her.</p>
<p>            “Go away, meany!” she sobbed.</p>
<p>            Loki hesitated. He sat down a few feet from Kuna and the tesseract, giving them some distance. She laid there, staring into its shimmering faces while she cried. Her face was still covered in blood from the fight on Tenanci’i. Her nose was bloody and her eyes were blackened as a result. Her hands and knuckles were busted and cracked from fighting. She was covered, once again, in bruises. Loki sighed, ashamed. He had shoved her. For a moment, he had allowed his other self to take control; to let the tesseract have priority over her.</p>
<p>            “Kuna, I’m sorry,” he said, softly.</p>
<p>            She sniffled but did not look at him.</p>
<p>            “Kuna, please. Talk to me,” he said.</p>
<p>            She snapped her eyes shut and shook her head, hugging the tesseract closer. Loki did not like how adherent she seemed to suddenly be to the tesseract. It was dangerous. She could accidentally teleport away again at any moment.</p>
<p>            <em>Or purposely teleport away,</em> the voice said. Loki batted the comment away and scooted a little closer to her, offering her the real toys. He inched closer.</p>
<p>            “Kuna,” he whispered. “It’s okay, now. I’m here. We’re safe. You got us away from the bad guys. You were very brave.”</p>
<p>            She opened her eyes and slowly looked up at him. He had her attention.</p>
<p>            “Can you tell me what you saw?” he prompted her. “What the tesseract showed you?”</p>
<p>            She wiped her face on her sleeve and sniffled. A couple of final sobs escaped her mouth as she tried to calm herself down.</p>
<p>            “It’s okay,” Loki said. “You can tell me. I’m sorry I was a big meany.”</p>
<p>            <em>You sound like a moron, </em>the voice taunted.</p>
<p>            “T—The purple man… he—he wants to destroy the universe forest with the gems. The ones like the tesseract,” she sniffled.</p>
<p>             “How did you meet the purple man?”</p>
<p>            She took in several gasping breaths. “H—H—He…” she stammered and started crying again.</p>
<p>            “Come here,” Loki said, picking her up.</p>
<p>            She fussed. “No! NO!”</p>
<p>            “I’m not going to take it from you. You can hold it. Just sit here, with me,” Loki said, calmly. Kuna held the tesseract in one hand and clutched a fistful of Loki’s shirt in the other. She laid her head on his chest and cried for a few moments. Loki placed her toys in her lap beside the tesseract. He was fighting his inner self to not grab it from her, but he was currently winning the battle. He was not sure how long it would last.</p>
<p>            “He pulled us into a black hole and onto his busted up planet. He wanted me to give him the tesseract. He showed me you and what you did to the blue planet and what he did to you. He tried to take the tesseract away from me, but it wouldn’t let him. It burned him up. Then, it showed me what he wanted to do with it and the other gems.”</p>
<p>            “The ones like the tesseract?” Loki asked, softly.</p>
<p>            Kuna nodded, rubbing the tears away from her eyes. “H—H—He wants to put them in his golden hand and destroy the life in the universe trees.”</p>
<p>            “The universe trees? You mean like Yggdrasil?” There was no way she could know about the Asgardian world tree. Loki had not mentioned it and Asgardians had yet to reach her system.</p>
<p>            Kuna shook her head, frustrated. She did not know what Loki was talking about, only that he was not understanding like she was.</p>
<p>            “The gems… planted the universe trees. This one came from our tree but there are other trees too and they all have them. And… And… And…”</p>
<p>            She put her hands on her head as she suddenly became overwhelmed by the memory of what she had seen; the journey she had been on. Her head started to spin. Her brain hurt. She pressed her nails into her scalp, clutching handfuls of her hair.</p>
<p>            “Alright, alright. Just slow down,” Loki said, putting his hands on hers, gently pulling her fingernails out of her head. He could see her pain. He could feel it too. It was not that long ago that he had felt the same pain brought on by the tesseract.</p>
<p>He stroked her head. “I understand, Kuna. You have a very… familiar way of describing what you’ve seen. We…” – Loki sighed – “We have a lot to talk about. But, look at me, darling.”</p>
<p>            Kuna opened her eyes and looked into his. Her lip was quivering and tears were beginning to overflow onto her cheeks again.</p>
<p>“What matters is, you’re here now with me and I <em>will</em> protect you from him.”</p>
<p>            She nodded and hugged him. He hugged her, placing his chin gently on top of her head.</p>
<p>            Loki’s nostrils flared with fear and anger. They needed to leave and now. If Thanos had truly caught Kuna while she was traveling with the tesseract, then he had discovered a way to track and capture the cube. They would need to be cautious from now on, even more so than they already were. Loki needed to get the cube back from Kuna without upsetting her again.</p>
<p>This had all been an accident. He had never meant for her to see the horrors the tesseract could show. He was impressed at the depth at which she understood the workings of the universe. She had comprehended it in such a way as a little girl who had grown up on a planet full of gigantic trees would.</p>
<p>            “How did you get back here, Kuna?” Loki asked, genuinely interested.</p>
<p>“The tesseract zapped him and got us away from them. I asked it to bring us back to you!”</p>
<p>            “Wow. I’m very proud of you, Kuna.”</p>
<p>            “I don’t really think you’re a big meany!” she cried, burying her head into his shirt again.</p>
<p>            “It’s alright. I can be sometimes. I’m sorry,” he said.</p>
<p>            “We can’t let the purple man have the tesseract, Loki.”</p>
<p>            “No, we can’t. You’re absolutely right, Kuna,” he said, looking down at her. “Listen very closely to me. We need to leave this desolate place but we have to do it carefully. The purple man can track us if we aren’t careful. I know how to use the tesseract; how to travel with it so he can’t catch us. Can I see it so I can take us away from here?”</p>
<p>            She sniffled and looked down at the cube in her lap. “It doesn’t like you.”</p>
<p>            “What do you mean?” Loki asked a bit taken aback by her response.</p>
<p>            “All you do is take from it. It doesn’t like you,” she said.</p>
<p>            “Well it needs to get over itself really quickly or we’re all going to be in trouble,” he grumbled.</p>
<p>Kuna looked up at him, her face scrunched together in anger. “You have to ask nicely. It doesn’t like to be ordered around.”</p>
<p>            “Okay then, I’ll be nice to it.”</p>
<p>            <em>You are such a pushover.</em> <em>Just take it from her!</em></p>
<p>            He stretched out his hand for it. Kuna considered giving him the tesseract.</p>
<p>“Please, Kuna? We don’t have a lot of time and I’m boiling out here. Aren’t you? I promise I will ask it nicely.”</p>
<p>She gingerly gave it to him. “Thank you, Kuna,” he said.</p>
<p>            He stood up and picked her up, holding her on his hip. He gathered their things into the satchel and put it over his shoulder.</p>
<p>            “Okay,” he said, looking at the cube in his hand. “Please, tesseract, take us somewhere nice. Far, far away from Thanos.”</p>
<p>            “With no alcohol water,” Kuna said.</p>
<p>            “That’s right,” Loki agreed. “But drinkable water, at least,” he added, just in case.</p>
<p>            “And no snowman monsters,” Kuna said.</p>
<p>            “Right, no snowmen.”</p>
<p>            “Or angry, queen whore mommies,” she said, rubbing her face.</p>
<p>            Loki laughed. “Right, none of those either, please.”</p>
<p>            The tesseract gleamed, opening a portal in front of them. They stepped through.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Blue is Better</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Sorry for the long wait. Pandemic has me low. Uplifting comments and CC are always welcome. I am always happily surprised by rising hit counts, kudos, and comments, even when it takes me nearly a month and a half to update. Thanks for reading and returning, folks. It really does lift my spirits and motivate me to return to writing. &lt;3</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Chapter 10: Blue is Better</strong>
</p>
<p>They appeared on a beautiful, verdant planet, surrounded by hills and tall mountains. The tesseract had put them out on top of one of these high hills, overlooking, steep, sweeping fjords. Clouds draped over the rounded summits of the neighboring mountains, reaching down into the deep valleys below.</p>
<p>            Kuna wiggled on Loki’s side to get down. He put her down on her feet and she ran towards the edge to look out over the fjord below them. A single sun peeked out at them from behind a few clouds above their heads. Kuna let the light shine on her face before the sun disappeared once again behind the clouds. She smiled and fell back on the grass, feeling it with her arms and legs in long strokes.</p>
<p>            Loki smirked. This did look like a rather nice place. He certainly preferred it over the desert planet the tesseract had previously stranded him on.</p>
<p>
  <em>It looks like Asgard.</em>
</p>
<p>The insidious reminder sent a fiery sensation through his body. Disturbed by the sudden thought, he looked around for any signs of the golden palace in the distance. Even on the tallest mountains and in the deepest fjords of Asgard, you could still see the massive golden palace in the center of Asgard. Odin had designed it as such; dominating, overpowering, annoyingly shiny. Yet, on this planet, they were completely alone on the vast hills.</p>
<p>            “It’s not Asgard, idiot. I don’t know where we are but it’s not there,” he mused to himself.</p>
<p>
  <em>The cube is misbehaving again. It could take us anywhere. The girl nearly gave it to Thanos. She’s a liability.</em>
</p>
<p>He looked at the gleaming cube in his hand. He was not amused by its behavior of late either. The cube, which had hitherto served him so well, had seemed now to have gained a mind of its own. A glimmer of white light shot up from deep inside the cube, sending a little zap through Loki’s finger tips. He recoiled and the tesseract fell out of his hand.</p>
<p>Loki gasped and flailed about, trying to catch it. He caught a corner with one finger, then another, not quite able to grasp it. The cube fell, bouncing off a rock, and tumbled across the grass towards Kuna. It came to a gentle halt against her leg. She sat up and smiled at it. A blue glimmer lit up her face.</p>
<p><em>It’s chosen her over you,</em> the voice hissed inside Loki’s head.</p>
<p>Loki grit his teeth and stalked towards Kuna and the cube.</p>
<p>
  <em>I told you to get rid of her. You could have killed her. You could have left her on any one of those wretched planets but no, you had to keep her because you’ve gone soft.</em>
</p>
<p>Loki closed his eyes, fists clenched. He inhaled deeply through his nose and scooped up the cube before Kuna could pick it up. He stared into the swirling ocean inside the cube.</p>
<p>
  <em>Toss her into a portal. Maybe one to a white dwarf star. No, the planet with the cannibals. Which one? </em>
</p>
<p>“No,” Loki thought.</p>
<p>
  <em>No, of course not. Too many to choose from. There must be something more suitable for her.</em>
</p>
<p>“Stop.”</p>
<p>
  <em>I’ve got it. Just open a portal to anywhere in space and leave her there. Let the vacuum take her.</em>
</p>
<p>Loki squeezed his eyes shut, trying to force the voice away.</p>
<p>
  <em>Better yet, a black hole.</em>
</p>
<p>Loki’s breath came hard, his jaw clenched. His arms trembled with the effort to control himself. He felt a hand on his arm and wrenched himself away. Kuna stood on her tiptoes, reaching for the cube.</p>
<p>“Kuna, this is not a toy!” Loki said, firmly. “With our luck, you’ll teleport us both into vacuum of space or worse yet, a black hole.”</p>
<p>Kuna jumped back and frowned, scrunching up her little nose at him. Her eyes shot daggers.</p>
<p>“I still haven’t figured out how you were even able to hold it let alone tele… teleport us…” Loki trailed off, looking down at the cranky girl. He shook his hands, “That doesn’t matter now. Look. It’s going to stay in my pocket, where it will be safe from Thano—I mean, the purple man. And just safe in general. So long as it stays in there this time,” he growled at the cube, squeezing it tightly.</p>
<p>            Kuna folded her arms and turned away but something made her turn back. Loki watched her eyes. He did not like the way she looked at the cube. There was a great need in her eyes. A need to protect it. The cube had its own ways of protecting itself - as he had found - and it often involved manipulating beings into sacrificing themselves to keep it from danger.  He put the tesseract into his pocket and dedicated extra energy to keeping it there.</p>
<p>Kuna looked away from him, her brow furrowed. She kicked a rock with her foot and it tumbled over the side of the cliff. She listened as it shattered off the walls and boulders below, on its way down to the bottom. She crossed her legs and plopped down hard on the ground with her back to Loki.</p>
<p>            Loki paced. He wanted to stab something – or at least a part of him did. He tried to push that part of himself away. The sun was falling fast on the horizon. Darker clouds were gathering. His cape lapped at his calves. He looked out across the landscape. There was no sign of any intelligent life that he could see. No cities, towns, or hamlets. Not even a mud hut or shit hole. He sighed. At least they were alone.</p>
<p>“I bought a tent thing on Tenanci’i. After this ordeal, we’ll need some place to recoup. Why don’t we see about putting it together? It looks like it might rain on us.” Loki said, looking up at the darkening sky around them. He glanced at Kuna but she did not waver from her position on the ground. He cut his eyes away, annoyed.</p>
<p>He summoned the tent from his pocket. In his hand appeared a compact box with a few buttons. A red and blue button glowed at him. He scratched his head.</p>
<p>“Of course, there’s no instructions,” he said, flipping the box in his hands. “Of course, I didn’t ask for any,” Loki grumbled. “Just two buttons. On a box. How is this a tent?”</p>
<p>He studied the box for a moment. The red button was the top button, the blue button was the bottom button. Clearly, the tent assembled itself, he figured. One button to assemble, one button to disassemble. The Tenanci’ians were exceedingly simple, Loki thought to himself.</p>
<p>Kuna looked over her shoulder and watched him from her spot on the ground for a moment. She was still sore about not being able to hold the tesseract even for a little bit. She remembered the vendor with the tent. There had been lots of strange and shiny things there that did not resemble any tents she had ever seen.</p>
<p>“What do you think? Red or blue?” Loki asked her as he studied the box.</p>
<p>            Kuna was surprised that he asked her. She tried to work out which button it could be in her head. Red was always bad. Red mushrooms were bad. Red berries were bad. Blood was red. Blue was nicer. The tesseract was blue and the tesseract was the best thing in the whole universe so blue had to be right. Loki was blue once and Loki was the best thing to ever happen to her. The Tenanci’ians made the box and the Tenanci’ians were blue but the Tenanci’ians also tried to kill them…</p>
<p>            “I think blue, maybe,” she said, indecisively. She wondered if Loki had put the instruction papers the vendor had given them in their satchel. Loki had been so busy buying things, she had been collecting all the extra bits and bobs and stuffing them into their purse. She would not read them but Loki could. She started to dig around in the satchel. Loki had really messed it up on the desert planet. It was full of sand and crumpled papers and many other random things.</p>
<p>            Loki returned to the box. Blue was not a color he was fond of.</p>
<p>            <em>What does she know? It’s definitely red,</em> the voice in his head decided.</p>
<p>            He pressed the red button and dropped the box. An explosion of yellow wax erupted from the box, engulfing Loki. He screamed and Kuna screamed. She leapt up and ran to Loki trying to find him in the gobbled mess of wax covering the grass.</p>
<p>            “Loki!” she cried.</p>
<p>            “MMfffrdd!” A muffled cry came from a particularly wiggly few lumps of wax. Kuna ran over to them and ripped of chunks, uncovering Loki’s glowering face. “It’s not red,” he said, angrily.</p>
<p>“I have a feeling you’ve never done camping before,” Kuna said, rather matter-of-factly.</p>
<p>            Loki could feel the voice cackling in his head. He squinted at her, a small twitch developing in his left eye.</p>
<p>            “Get me out of this,” he said through gritted teeth.</p>
<p>            “I told you to press the blue button,” she said.</p>
<p>            “Kuna.”</p>
<p>            “Blue is always better.”</p>
<p>            “Kuna.”</p>
<p>            “The sky is blue.”</p>
<p>            “Kuna.”</p>
<p>            “And water most of the time is blue and havasafruit is blue – that’s my favorite – and my cape is blue and the tesseract is blue and you were blue that one time and—”</p>
<p>            <em>DON’T YOU DARE, YOU LITTLE--</em></p>
<p>            “KUNA, GET ME OUT OF THIS WAX RIGHT NOW!”</p>
<p>            She flinched and started peeling away more globs of wax from around Loki’s neck and shoulders. “I found the instruction papers, I think,” she said, shyly. “It has pictures on them.”</p>
<p>            “You’re telling me this now?”</p>
<p>            “I was trying to look for them!” she sniffed. “I can’t read them.”</p>
<p>            Loki remembered she could not read and sighed. “Please, just help me out of this and I’ll figure out what the Hel I’ve done this time.”</p>
<p>            Kuna carved Loki out of the wax and he wrestled himself the rest of the way out. She handed him the instructions she had found and ran off, climbing over the gelatinous carnage to recover the box. He brushed himself off, adjusting his disheveled hair. Kuna returned with the box and gave it to him. Loki read aloud:</p>
<p>           </p>
<p>“‘To deploy your Apidome number-I-cannot-read Survival Tent, first, place box on a clear, level surface, free from debris and away from trees. Then, press the blue button to deploy.’”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            Kuna folded her arms triumphantly and smiled at him. “I think you need to listen more. The tesseract thinks so too.”</p>
<p>            “Yeah, yeah,” Loki said, smirking back at her. He flicked his fingers her way and a spell pulled her cape over her head.</p>
<p>            “Hey!”</p>
<p>            “I let you go on one field trip with the cube and you come back full of sass.”</p>
<p>            Kuna righted her cape, giving Loki the smuggest, sassiest grin she could muster. Loki sped read the page until a header caught his eye.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            “’In case of misdeployment:’,</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Ah, here we go. See, clearly this was designed improperly if they have to put this in here. It happens too often. We’re not the only ones,” he reasoned.</p>
<p>            “I said it was the blue one,” Kuna mumbled. Loki ignored her.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            “’In case of misdeployment, the Apidome number-I-cannot-read may eject its contents in an unseemly manner.’ Yeah, no kidding,” Loki scoffed.</p>
<p>This time when he resumed reading he took on the accent of one of the meek male Tenanci’ians, glancing at Kuna. “’Simply place the box in the center of the tent and press the red button. Stand back! Contents will be hot!’”</p>
<p>Kuna giggled at his high pitched voice and funny faces.</p>
<p>“’When the contents has been properly regathered and the area is clear, refer again to the top of the page for deployment instructions.’ Meh, blah, blah, blah.”</p>
<p>“Read more!” she giggled.</p>
<p>            “The rest is just a bunch of rubbish,” he shrugged, walking over the wax to put the box down.</p>
<p>            “It didn’t sound like that to me,” she said. “This tent is weird.”</p>
<p>            “Yes it is.” Loki pressed the red button and jumped out of the circle of wax to Kuna. He pulled her a few more feet out of the way.</p>
<p>            The box opened and the wax lit up bright white. Kuna could feel the heat on her skin. Loki turned his face away from the heat. He took the page again from Kuna and quickly read through the rest of the instructions. He was not going to be burned alive inside a tent. Thankfully, there did not appear to be a chance of such a thing happening. A whooshing sound emitted from the box and the wax rushed back inside. Kuna let out a little laugh.</p>
<p>            “Now, we press the blue one!” she said, excitedly, running towards the box.</p>
<p>            “Uh, how about I do it?” Loki said, grabbing her cape.</p>
<p>            “Ahh.”</p>
<p>            <em>I think she should. Have her press the red one and then just teleport away.</em></p>
<p>            “Shut up,” Loki thought. He walked over and pressed the blue button.</p>
<p>            This time the tent grew around them in a hexagonal pattern, stacking up in plump rings, forming a domed roof above them. A circular skylight let in what was left of the dying light. The tent was tall enough for Loki to stand up straight in the center and long enough for him to stretch out along the floor. He was equally impressed and annoyed at the ingenuity. He and Kuna looked around and then at each other.</p>
<p>            “Bees,” they both said at once and laughed together.</p>
<p>            In the very center of the floor was a hexagonal fireplace that contained a dish like mechanism. Loki crouched, studying it. He reviewed the instructions and touched it twice in quick succession. A hologram dome covered the dish and a small fire ignited in the middle. Heat that would cook and warm but not melt their shelter.</p>
<p>            “Hmph,” Loki grumbled. He was not sure about having fire this close to where he slept.</p>
<p>            “Loki look! Look at the door! Shoop!” Kuna made a sound and giggled.</p>
<p>            Loki straightened up and watched. Kuna was outside the tent. The door was more transparent than the rest of the tent’s waxy consistency. Her figure was murky but he could still see her. She fazed back through the door of the tent like walking through gelatin. Loki grimaced. She giggled.</p>
<p>            “I like how it feels! It tickles!”</p>
<p>            “I don’t know how I feel about that,” he said. “Well, it looks like I’m staying inside forever.”</p>
<p>            “Why did they put a red button on it anyways?”</p>
<p>            “Good question. My answer? They’re morons. The instructions answer: ‘For cleaning or personal moulding purposes (not recommended for non-Tenanci’ian races).’ I guess if you want to make it look different.”</p>
<p>            “Oh.”</p>
<p>Loki pulled the bedrolls from his pocket. Thankfully, they were normal looking. He rolled them out. Kuna stood beside hers, looking down at it. Loki watched her. It was as if he could see the gears turning in her head. She was thinking about something but he could not make out what.</p>
<p>            “Kuna?” he asked. “Are you going to sit down?”</p>
<p>            “Do… Do I get to sleep inside the tent? With you?” she asked, quietly, without turning around.</p>
<p>            Loki was taken aback by the question. “Well, yes, of course.” he said, plainly. “What sort of a question is…”</p>
<p>            She turned around to face him. Her eyes were big and filled with tears.</p>
<p>            “Wha… Why are you crying?” he asked.</p>
<p>            She sniffed and rubbed her eyes, smearing dirt and grime on her face. He noticed for the first time, it seemed, the cuts on her hands and the blood on her face from the fight. She had smeared it all over her face from her tears.</p>
<p>            “The other Masters never let me sleep inside the tent. I… I always have to sleep outside,” she gulped. “I… I don’t… I didn’t know if… if you were still m-mad at me.”</p>
<p>            “I’m not mad,” Loki replied, painfully.</p>
<p>
  <em>I am.</em>
</p>
<p>Kuna hung her head, her shoulders drooped. Loki watched her, silently. Tears fell from her chin, pooling in perfect droplets on the waxy floor. He was unsure of how to deal with this much crying in his life.</p>
<p>“Kuna, how many times do I have to tell you? I’m not your master. You’re a free person now. So, yes, of course, you’re sleeping inside this weird beehive tent. And I’m not angry with you. I’m sorry I snapped at you. It seems I struggle a little more when I’m accompanied by someone other than myself.”</p>
<p>She looked up at him and then quickly back down at her hands. She picked at the cuts on her knuckles and fingers.</p>
<p>“Come here. Let’s get you cleaned up.” Loki beckoned to her.</p>
<p>            She plodded over to him, plopping down on the ground in front of him. Loki conjured up some healing supplies and a canteen of water he had stored away. He gently cleaned her hands and knuckles before wrapping them in bandages. He reached into the satchel and gave her the stuffed animals. She hugged them close.</p>
<p>When he was done with her wounds, he looked at her messy hair and sighed. He gently turned her around, setting her down in front of his crossed legs. Conjuring a comb, he combed through her hair and began to plait it. Kuna sat stock still, not understanding what Loki was doing.</p>
<p>            “I think you’re going to like this when I’m done,” Loki said.</p>
<p>            “What are you doing?” Kuna asked, hugging her dragon.</p>
<p>            “I’m plaiting your hair.”</p>
<p>            “What?” she whispered.</p>
<p>            “I’ll show you in just a second,” Loki said, sticking out his tongue in concentration. “I’m almost done. This is how all the noble ladies and gents wear their hair on Asgard – that’s, erm, that’s where I’m from.”</p>
<p>Kuna held her breath in anticipation.</p>
<p>            “Okay, have a look,” Loki said, pulling her plait over her shoulder so she could see it.</p>
<p>            Kuna’s eyes widened at the complexity of the woven locks of her hair. She stared at it in awe, holding it delicately in her hands, afraid that if she touched it too much, she would mess it up. She turned around and hugged Loki. His body tensed at the touch. His senses still wired from the battle had him on edge. He exhaled and relaxed, putting his arms around the child.</p>
<p>            “Loki?” Kuna asked.</p>
<p>            “Mmm,” Loki said, his eyes closed.</p>
<p>            “Why did you free me on Torileena?”</p>
<p>            “Because those men were torturing you and I didn’t like it.”</p>
<p>            “But why did you keep me?”</p>
<p>            “Well, I didn’t have much of a choice, really. We were chased by that monster.”</p>
<p>            “But you could have left me to be eated by the gigagrunt.”</p>
<p>            “To be eaten? That would have been cruel. Even for me. Why do you ask?”</p>
<p>            Kuna fiddled with her dragon’s wings and shrugged. Loki picked her up, trying to get into a comfortable position for what he knew was going to be a long and uncomfortable talk with the child. He conjured some food for them both giving her plenty to eat and drink while they talked. Whatever sort of journey she had been on with the tesseract should have drained her immensely. The fact that she was even awake was still baffling to him but he was sure she would be hungry.</p>
<p>            “I’m assuming you have lots of questions for me after everything that has happened,” Loki said as he settled her back down on his legs. She nodded, hugging both of her toys and munching on a piece of fruity.</p>
<p>            “Alright, well now’s the time to ask them. Go.”</p>
<p>            Kuna scrunched up her face as she thought of all the questions she had for Loki.</p>
<p>            “Will the bad guys be looking for us?”</p>
<p>            “The Nova Corps? Yes, they will. But they’ll have a difficult time of it. They can’t leave the galaxy they love so much and I’m pretty sure we’re on the other side of the universe from them so they’re nothing to worry about now.”</p>
<p>            “What about the purple man? Is he coming for us too. He really doesn’t like you.”</p>
<p>            “He does not. Thanos is his name. He is a very bad guy. Without the tesseract, he’ll have a more difficult time navigating the universe but he’s crafty. It’s possible he could find a way. Which is why it’s safer if we keep moving. Who wants to settle down anyway?”</p>
<p>            Kuna digested this information, taking a long pause and a deep drink of water.</p>
<p>            “Why did he make you attack the blue planet?” she asked.</p>
<p>            Loki was taken aback by this question. “Wh-what do you know about that?”</p>
<p>            “The tesseract showed me the purp—I mean, Thanos, hurting you. Him and his mean friends. I know he made you go there with one of the other stones like the tesseract. But I don’t know why.”</p>
<p>            Loki was surprised by how much the tesseract had shown her and by how much she detail she could remember. “Thanos wanted me to retrieve the tesseract for him from Midgard, the blue planet. It’s also called Earth or Terra. It means ‘dirt’ because that’s what it is. A big, disgusting, pile of dirt.” Loki gestured with his hands how big the pile was. Kuna giggled. “Thanos wanted me to deliver him the tesseract but… things did not go as planned.”</p>
<p>            “Because you got your butt kicked by the dirt people,” Kuna said.</p>
<p>            “Hey!”</p>
<p>            “I saw! The tesseract showed me,” she defended.</p>
<p>            “Yeah? Well, what else did it show you?”</p>
<p>            Kuna ignored him. “You weren’t really going to give the tesseract to him, were you?”</p>
<p>            “No. Not if I could help it. But you’re right, he made me. He was controlling my mind.”</p>
<p>            Kuna gasped and hugged her toys tighter. “No!” she whispered, not wanting to believe him.</p>
<p>            “But I broke free from his grasp. I got away with the cube and I’ve been doing everything I can to keep it away from him and anyone else that wants it. It wasn’t long after that I found you,” he said, poking her gently in the chest. She smiled.</p>
<p>“When I met Thanos, he said he was mad at my daddy. I don’t think there’s any way he knows <em>my</em> daddy. Was he… was he talking about you?” Kuna asked after some pause.</p>
<p>            “Yes,” Loki replied.</p>
<p>            She sighed, sprawling across his lap. “I wish I had a daddy like you. My daddy’s shit.”</p>
<p>            Loki snorted at her choice of words. “Yeah, well, so is mine.”</p>
<p>            “Really?” She turned over, looking at him in shock.</p>
<p>            “Yes. Not as terrible as yours though. Mine never sold me into slavery. But mine did trick me into believing I was born to be a king when, in fact, I was born an evil monster that was so useless my own birth parents threw me out. He only kept me around in order to use me as a warfare deterrent and a bargaining chip to keep his own political prowess alive for another five thousand or so years or until he handed off the kingdom to my moronic brother to annihilate.”</p>
<p>            “Oh,” Kuna said, a little confused but sympathetic. “That sounds awful.”</p>
<p>            Loki nodded.</p>
<p>            “So, you’re a prince?”</p>
<p>            <em>I was King! </em></p>
<p>            “Yes, I am,” he said, proudly. “I <em>was </em>a king.”</p>
<p>            “Woah.” Kuna was very impressed. “What happened?”</p>
<p>            <em>I was betrayed!</em></p>
<p>            He looked up at her. “I was betrayed.”</p>
<p>            “No!”</p>
<p>            <em>Cast out!</em></p>
<p>“Cast out by my father and brother for being a monster.” A tear fell from Loki’s eye, landing in his upturned hand.</p>
<p>            “You’re not a monster,” Kuna said, looking up into his eyes. She crawled into his lap and put her arms around his neck.</p>
<p>            “It’s why I turned blue,” he said, not returning her hug. “That’s what I look like. I’m from a horrible place where savage monsters called frost giants murder and kill for pleasure.”</p>
<p>            “I don’t think you’re a monster,” she whispered.</p>
<p>
  <em>            You don’t know the monster.</em>
</p>
<p>            “You were scared of me.”</p>
<p>            “You would be scared too if I suddenly turned blue,” Kuna retorted, straightening up to look at him again. She braced herself on his shoulders.</p>
<p>            He let out a hollow laugh. “I suppose you’re right.”</p>
<p>            “I’m sorry they hurt you, Loki,” she said, hugging him again, tighter this time. He gave her a gentle pat on the back before picking her up and setting her back on the floor. He sniffled, composing himself.</p>
<p>“Any more questions?”</p>
<p>            “What’s your favorite color?”</p>
<p>            “Easy: Green,” he said, holding up his cape.</p>
<p>            “What’s your favorite animal?”</p>
<p>            “I think we’re getting a little off topic, here.”</p>
<p>            “You said if I had questions, now’s the time!” Kuna whined.</p>
<p>            Loki sighed. “Fine. Dragons.”</p>
<p>            “I knew it.”</p>
<p>            “Why don’t you get some sleep and we’ll talk more later, huh? I can imagine how tired you are after your adventure with the tesseract,” Loki said.</p>
<p>Kuna nodded rubbing the sleep in her eyes. She laid down on her bedroll with her stuffed animals. She burrowed under the blanket and curled up, cuddling her toys, and closed her eyes. Loki laid down on his own bedroll but was far from sleep himself. He extinguished the fire and laid on the opposite side of it from Kuna. Hoping he could trick himself to sleep, he closed his eyes.</p>
<p>The pitter patter of rain on the waxy exterior slowly began to fill his ears as the clouds began to open up above them. The wind picked up a little but the tent was sturdy. Thunder began to roll out in the distance. Kuna whimpered beside him at the sound. Loki’s jaw clenched. He desperately tried to calm his mind but the thunder drumming up from the surrounding mountains drilled in his head. Thoughts of Thor and Odin swam through his thoughts, stirring up bitter emotions: anger, hatred, rage. He felt the more insidious side of himself swelling in his mind. Behind the closed lids of his eyes, white-blue lights flashed through the wax. Rain hammered against the tent.</p>
<p>Kuna could not sleep. She stared at the ceiling of the tent, past it, through the storm clouds, into the dark night sky and up into the stars. She closed her eyes but still saw the stacks of stardust and twinkling supernovas. A clap of thunder made her yelp, bringing her crashing back down to the planet. Loki had not heard her. She glanced around the dark hivetent. Bright lightning flashed, casting long, murky shadows on the walls. She hid her head under the blanket, hugging her dragon and sleipnir close. She squeezed her eyes shut. The thunder growled at her.</p>
<p>Creeping out of her bedroll, she gently carried it around to Loki’s other side. She was careful not to make too much noise but the outside was doing a good enough job to cover her up. She slid silently back into her bedroll and quickly snatched her toys back into the safety of the blankets. Cuddling up to Loki’s side, she immediately felt comforted by his presence. She curled into a ball beside him and closed her eyes again.</p>
<p>Her body was sore and ached with the violence from the day. Her mind felt the same. She felt pulled by the universe, stretched in all directions like she was being stretched out on a tanning rack. One moment, she thought of beautiful planets and stars, the next of the greedy peoples she had seen. Then, she thought of Loki’s daddy and mean brother. Her own daddy’s muffled voice rang in her head. She put her hands on her head. She whimpered as thunder continued to rumble and roar.</p>
<p>“Mmm,” Loki mumbled. “Knock it off, Thor.”</p>
<p>Loki struggled in a half sleep stupor. Brought back to the palace of his youth in Asgard, he watched on as Thor summoned lightning with his newly acquired hammer. His gaggle of friends and fans ooed and awed at his strength and power. They pushed past Loki, shoving him out of the way to get a better look at Odin’s golden boy.</p>
<p>Loki’s skin prickled at the feeling of the electricity in the air. A feeling he had learned to abhor and avoid at all costs. He had been electrocuted enough times by stray bolts and arcs to know the strength of his brother’s power. He didn’t need to be shown any parlor tricks to know.</p>
<p>            “What’s the matter, Loki? Are you jealous?” Thor jested.</p>
<p>            Loki’s eyes rolled beneath his eyelids. His fists clenched fistfuls of the blankets. His nostrils flared with anger.</p>
<p>            “I’ll show you, you oaf!” Loki shouted.</p>
<p>            Thor shot a bolt of lightning from Mjolnir as Loki took his own battle stance. The dream faded before Loki could cast a spell in attack as he felt a sudden movement beside him made his skin crawl. His eyes snapped open. Kuna had moved her bedroll beside him, making herself comfortable at his side. She curled up in a little ball like a tiny puppy, snuggling up to his chest with her stuffed animals.</p>
<p>
  <em>Stop touching me! Get away, you stupid brat!</em>
</p>
<p>A feeling of annoyance bubbled up in Loki along with the insidious voice still loose in his head. He wanted to push Kuna away. The muscles in arms tensed but did not heed his desire. He dug his fingernails deep into his skin until he felt pain. Gritting his teeth, the muscles in his jaw flexed. The voice was trying to take control once more, as it had on the desert planet. A clap of thunder brought him out of this stalemate with himself. Kuna jumped and let out a little yelp.</p>
<p>“Ugh,” Loki groaned. “You don’t like thunder, either?” She shook her head. Her whole body shivered with fear. He turned onto his side, facing her. “It’s nothing to worry about,” he said. “Just a lot of noise, really.”</p>
<p>She cuddled closer to Loki. His skin prickled at her touch as it always did during thunderstorms. He was not fond of touch on a good day but even he did not enjoy a cuddle during an angry thunderstorm. His past did not support a love for the racket and certainly not for the light show that followed. He fought with himself not to push her away to make the sensation stop. He closed his eyes. He held his breath. He tried to count to ten. She fell asleep once more.</p>
<p>Loki gently moved himself away from her, only a few inches, so as to stop the uncomfortable sensation her touch was causing. He sighed, closing his eyes once more. It had been days since he had had any true rest. At least since before he had even rescued the child. He just wanted to sleep. Another clap of thunder sent Kuna scurrying to find Loki’s side once more and the flair of pins and needles radiated over Loki’s body. He put his hands on his face.</p>
<p>
  <em>We’re never going to get any sleep. She won’t leave us alone.</em>
</p>
<p>“She’s afraid of thunder, what am I supposed to do?” Loki thought to himself.</p>
<p>
  <em>Get rid of her!</em>
</p>
<p>“Ugh, go away.” Loki turned over.</p>
<p>Kuna whimpered at his side, scuttling ever closer as angry thunder rattled overhead. She tucked herself beneath his armpit and stretched out along his side. His skin rippled with the fiery sensation of her touch. He was nearly shaking with the effort not to her push her away.</p>
<p>"Kuna, please! You cannot get any closer to me!"</p>
<p>Kuna sniffled and moved back a bit at Loki’s outburst. He felt a deep pang of guilt that his inner self batted away like a homerun in the ninth.</p>
<p>
  <em>She needs to learn. If you’re going to keep her, she’s going to be independent.</em>
</p>
<p>Loki turned back over onto his side to face Kuna. She clutched her toys, curled up in a ball, shaking with fear at the racket outside. Her eyes glistened with tears. Loki shook his head.</p>
<p>"Here, you have your toys,” he began. “Have you thought of names?" He adjusted them beside her. She sniffed and circled one of the dragon's black scales on its back with her finger. Loki pulled the blanket up over her shoulder.</p>
<p>"I want to call him Ratok," she said.</p>
<p>"Ratok. I'm not familiar with the name," Loki replied.</p>
<p>"Because he has spots on his scales." She poked at his scales, not meeting Loki’s eyes.</p>
<p>"Oh, it means 'spot'," Loki realized, smiling at the discrepancy his Allspeak had made between the proper name and the noun in Kuna's mother tongue.</p>
<p>"And what about the sleipnir, hmm? You know these eight legged horses are nearly extinct now? My father rides the very last one of it's kind."</p>
<p>She gasped and pushed him away.</p>
<p>"Oh no, no! He's a good horse. A famous horse even without his ridiculous rider. They are a proud, elegant species! I was there the day Sleipnir was born. I practically caught him as he came from his mother! Eight sprawling legs and all. He thought I was his own mother for weeks; followed me around everywhere. My brother never let me forget it. Spread all sorts of awful rumors about me.”</p>
<p>Loki put his hand to his head remembering the ridicule: the myths, legends, and stories that Thor propagated from one small incident in the stables. He sighed, shaking his head, looking back down at Kuna.</p>
<p>“But this little guy can have whatever name you want to give him or her."</p>
<p>Kuna thought about this for a while. Loki yawned, waiting patiently for her to make up her mind. "I like Nira," she said, after a long while.</p>
<p>"That's very nice," he said, rubbing his eyes. "So we have Ratok and Nira to protect you from the thunder. So, wrap up in the blanket." He tucked her into her bedroll, pulling it at least a foot of distance from himself. "And obviously I'm here and I'm not going to let it get you. Oh, what am I saying?” He shook his head and looked down at Kuna’s big green eyes.</p>
<p>“Listen, Kuna. You need to learn this. Thunder is not dangerous. It's just noise. It’s not a monster. It’s not going to get you. It can’t.”</p>
<p>            In that moment, a clashing of thunder roared out across the mountains. They could feel the sound in their chests. It felt as if it came from everywhere all it once. Kuna jumped, diving under the blanket. She peeked out once more, only her eyes below the edge of the blanket.</p>
<p>"Angry noise."</p>
<p>"Yes," Loki said, putting his hand on his face in desperation. "Most of the time. But just noise. Can you try to sleep?"</p>
<p>"I'll try,” Kuna said, punily.</p>
<p>"Good." Loki turned over onto his other side, leaving Kuna his back.</p>
<p>She pouted, cuddling her toys. She pulled the blanket over her head to muffle the angry noise and flashy lights but it became too hot and stuffy underneath there. She huffed and sighed. She tossed to one side and then the other, huffing and sighing. She turned onto her back and looked up at the ceiling. The universe pulled on her again. She did not like the stretchy feeling it gave her head. The universe tree began to sprout in her mind’s eye. She watched it grow but the feeling persisted and still she could not sleep. Then, she remembered how the tesseract had sang to her.</p>
<p>"Loki?” she asked. “Are you awake?”</p>
<p>“I am now.”</p>
<p>“Will you sing again?"</p>
<p>He let out a heavy sigh. "No,” he replied without turning over. He had not been able to fall asleep either with all the noise she was making.</p>
<p>"But it was so pretty."</p>
<p>Loki blushed. "I don't know what you're talking about or what you <em>think</em> you heard when I was hallucinating on those candy bars but I do <em>not</em> sing."</p>
<p>"I thought it was pretty," Kuna whispered to herself. "And you were so happy."</p>
<p>"Well I'm throwing those candy bars over the cliff and into a portal to a black hole first thing tomorrow morning."</p>
<p>Kuna frowned. "So grumpy."</p>
<p>"Go to sleep."</p>
<p>“Does the tesseract to sing to you?”</p>
<p>“No.”</p>
<p>“I like the song it sings.”</p>
<p>“Don’t listen.”</p>
<p>“What? Why not?” she whined, sitting up.</p>
<p>Loki sighed. “Because… I don’t want to explain right now, Kuna—”</p>
<p>“Why not?”</p>
<p>
  <em>I liked her better when she was scared of us. She was much quieter and meeker and quieter.</em>
</p>
<p>“Because I want to sleep! Please, just go to sleep. Please.” He turned over to look her in the eye.</p>
<p>“But I can’t sleep!” Kuna cried. “Every time I close my eyes, I see all that out there!” She pointed to the sky.</p>
<p>Loki understood now. This was not just about thunder and lightning. The tesseract had had a deeper effect on her mind than he had thought. Kuna hunkered over, cradling her toys. She did not like yelling. She was not used to arguing. Loki swallowed hard.</p>
<p>“Come here,” he said. She looked up at him, terrified.</p>
<p>
  <em>Good. You should be.</em>
</p>
<p>“Come on. Come close,” Loki said, beckoning her. She shook her head. “No. It’s alright. I mean it. I’m sorry I snapped at you. You’re right. I’m grumpy when I’m sleepy.”</p>
<p>Kuna gingerly moved closer. Loki put his hands on either side of her head. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath through his nose. Kuna’s head was turbulent. He could feel it. Far more turbulent than any child’s mind should ever be. Her aura too was beating to a rhythm he could not place. It rippled and roiled, following a rhythm for only a moment before shifting violently to another. No wonder she could not sleep. He felt deeper. There was a darkness around her essence that disturbed him. A stinging sensation began to seep into his own aura, the same as when he had first met her.</p>
<p>“Lie down,” he said, calmly to her.</p>
<p>            “Am I sick?” she whispered, as she laid down beside him.</p>
<p>            “No. You’ve had a very difficult few days too. I was just thinking of myself and how tired I was. This has been a marathon for you too. Close your eyes. I’m not going to do this often but this should help you sleep tonight.”</p>
<p>            “Okay,” Kuna said, meekly.</p>
<p>            Loki put his fingertips on her forehead and cast a light sleeping spell. Kuna let out a wistful sigh and was finally asleep. Loki knew well the dangers of sleeping spells. Most sleeping spells were forbidden to be used on children on Asgard except in extreme circumstances, as children had the tendency to get ‘lost’ in the spells and sleep for months, years, or sometimes, never wake up from them. Loki had scoured the Great Library’s spellbooks for sleeping spells to use on Thor when he was annoying him. He had one or two good ones he had hidden from his mother and the other nursemaids. If they could knock out Thor for a few hours, they could knock Kuna out for the night at least. She needed a peaceful sleep as much as he did.</p>
<p>He removed his hand and watched her. Her mouth turned up at the corners in a soft smile. He adjusted the blanket over her and placed her stuffed animals closer to her. He hesitated for a moment before gently placing his hand on her head and stroking her hair.</p>
<p>He felt calmer now. The feeling of annoyance was gone. Kuna sighed contentedly in her sleep. He studied her for a moment. Her eyes flitted side to side beneath her eyelids. He pressed a hand to her forehead. Her mind was calmer now as well, though he could still feel the tesseract’s presence there and something more. This anomaly was connected with her magical aura that she had thus far kept hidden from him. Perhaps, tomorrow, it would be his turn to ask questions.</p>
<p>His thoughts began to turn towards the tesseract. Its new behaviors and connections to Kuna were troubling. Ancient Asgardian texts in the Great Library had documented beings with immortal blood like his and Kuna’s being burned up alive by simply touching the Space Stone without proper study and preparation. Intentions needed to be set, energy prepared, concentrated, and focused, safeguards put in place, before even the smallest jump could be managed with the stone. And yet, the child had gone on some insane cosmos fling with stone. It had taken Loki the equivalent of eons on Sanctuary to understand its workings. He wondered if her mind would recover from it. She seemed alright.</p>
<p>
  <em>She tried to kill you yesterday. Remember, she almost chopped your fingers off.</em>
</p>
<p>            “Hardly murder,” Loki thought.</p>
<p>            <em>And then all that nonsense with universe trees and the singing tesseract.</em></p>
<p>“She did just meet the most terrifying being in the universe.”</p>
<p>            <em>I say we throw the whole child out. She’s ruined.</em></p>
<p>            “Just like me.”</p>
<p>Loki’s eyes began to feel heavy with sleep.</p>
<p>
  <em>You know there could be anything outside.</em>
</p>
<p>The thought occurred to him that they had no idea what might live on this planet. He had not seen signs of intelligent life but that did not mean there could not be creatures lurking about. He needed to keep watch.</p>
<p>            <em>Conjure a copy, you idiot. You’ve gone so soft you can’t even think straight. You should let me drive.</em></p>
<p>            “Not a chance,” Loki grumbled at the voice in his head, but conjured a copy of himself to guard the outside of hivetent. It walked towards the sticky door and hesitated, grimacing at Loki.</p>
<p>“Just go!” Loki mouthed, angrily at himself.</p>
<p>He frowned at him and made a rude gesture with his finger as he squished out the doorway. Loki laid his head back down and finally allowed sleep to take him, gently laying his arm over Kuna.</p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Do Ravens Have Pockets?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Yeah, it's been a while, sorry. It's a long one because I feel guilty. Hope you enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Do Ravens Have Pockets</strong>
</p><p>Loki woke, opening his eyes in the dim light of the hivetent. His eyes slowly focused as he blinked the sleep away. He looked down but Kuna was not in her bedroll. Her toys lay alone in the disheveled blanket. Loki’s heart began to race. He looked around, frantic. He heard a small noise. He flipped over. Kuna sat, cowering behind him, her knees pulled up to her chest, her face smashed into her arms as she hugged her legs.</p><p>“Kuna, are you alright?” Loki asked, reaching for her, but his voice made her jump and tremble. She was crying and whimpering. “Kuna, it’s okay. What’s the matter?”</p><p>She shook her head, peeking up just a little from her arms and pointing towards the squishy door of the tent. Loki remembered the copy of himself that he had stationed outside to guard them.</p><p>“Oh no, Kuna,” he said, moving closer to her. “It’s alright. He’s one of mine. I put him out there so he could watch over us. I’m sorry he scared you. I’ll make him go away, alright?” Loki flicked his hand towards the door. Jets of green light flashed from his fingertips. Kuna flinched at the glow. “He’s gone now,” Loki reassured her.</p><p>She looked up at her Loki and crawled towards him. Loki gave her her toys to comfort her. He was surprised at how fearful she was of his magic.</p><p>“It’s alright now,” he said again after some time. “There’s nothing to be afraid of. Come on, I’ll show you.”</p><p>He stood and motioned for Kuna to follow. She stood shakily, hugging her friends. Loki squished out the door into the morning sunlight. Kuna peeked out next to him, only her head poking out of the gelatinous door. She looked back and forth and then up at Loki.</p><p>Satisfied he was the only Loki around, she hopped out the door, set her toys down gently on a dry patch of ground, and quickly ran to the bushes beside their tent. She ducked down behind them.</p><p>“Turn around!” she ordered Loki.</p><p>“Oh right, sorry,” he said and did as he was told. She rejoined him a few moments later, relieved. “Better?” he asked.</p><p>“Yes,” she said, picking up her stuffed animals again.</p><p>“Kuna, you have no need to fear my magic. You know I would never use it to hurt you.”</p><p>She hugged her toys. Her eyes studied the grass at her feet. Loki sat down beside her and gently turned her to face him. He felt unsure on how to convince her his magic would not hurt her.</p><p>“How did you sleep last night?” he asked, pulling her a little closer.</p><p>She nodded. “Good,” she said.</p><p>He smiled. “See? My magic isn’t so bad. It helped you sleep.”</p><p>She nodded again and stepped closer to him, putting her head on his shoulder.</p><p>“Will you tell me why you’re so afraid of magic?”</p><p>She shook her head.</p><p>“No?” Loki asked, softly, looking at her. “Why not?”</p><p>Kuna shook her head again.</p><p>“Has someone else used magic to hurt you?” Loki asked, fearing but knowing the answer.</p><p>She nodded.</p><p>“I’m sorry, Kuna,” Loki said, taking her hand. “You don’t deserve that. Is that why you don’t use your magic?”</p><p>“I don’t have any magic, sir!” Kuna cried, yanking her hand out of his. She cowered. Her hands shot to her neck, trying to fiddle with the collar that no longer rested there.</p><p>“Woah, easy! You can tell me. It’s not a crime to have magic,” Loki said.</p><p>“I don’t have any magic, sir!”</p><p>“Alright, alright. Calm down. I know that you have magic—”</p><p>“I don’t have any magic, sir!” she cried again, pulling at her fingers.</p><p>“Kuna, it’s alright.”</p><p>“I—I—I don’t have any magic, sir,” she whispered. She tugged at her hair and picked at the skin on her hands.</p><p>“Kuna,” Loki said, taking her hand again, trying to be comforting.</p><p>“I don’t have any magic, sir.” She pulled away again, shaking her head.</p><p>“Okay, alright. I believe you,” Loki said, softly. Using his own seidr, he extended his essence to feel hers. He could feel that disturbance again in his own aura, radiating from hers; that electric-like pain running down his neck. He wondered if she was feeling it too. He brushed it off.</p><p>It was becoming increasingly clear to Loki that Kuna was not suppressing her magic herself in order to hide it. Her repetitive assertions to his query were worrying.</p><p>“Kuna, do you have magic?”</p><p>“I don’t have any magic, sir!” She flinched.</p><p>Loki’s heart began to sink. He felt that same pain in his aura. This was no conditioned phrase or behavior; it was forced. With a significant and painful response within Kuna’s own magical essence. It was clear to Loki that Kuna was cursed. And whatever curse was on her was keeping her from even speaking about her magic.</p><p>Loki was familiar with curses. They were considered dark magic, but he had found that was more propaganda than any truth; a lie to keep the peasants from using more powerful curses against the elite, more notably, against the Allfather. Thusly, no one liked users of ‘dark’ magic. However, none of this stopped Loki. He had often scoured the Great Library for books on dark magic. His curiosity for learning all types of magic regardless of their moral stereotypes had earned him the reputation as being the more suspicious and conniving of the princes. Yet, the Great Library had very few practical books on the subject. The Allfather’s private collection, however, had many books regarding the darker, more ancient types of magic.</p><p>Loki worked up a plan in his mind but none of it would come to fruition if he did not know the type of curse he was dealing with. He did know from his reading that the longer curses had time to seep into an individual’s essence, the more difficult it could be to remove them as the curse had become more like a parasite than a spell.</p><p>He watched Kuna shift her weight uncomfortably. She did not meet his eyes anymore, staring down at her feet and wringing her braid. “Kuna, I want to try something. Just sit still, okay,” he said.</p><p>He raised his hand to Kuna’s forehead. She flinched away from him. It was like she was back to the submissive little slave Loki had freed.</p><p>“No!” she cried. “Please! I don’t want any more magic.” She struggled, pushing his hand away.</p><p>“It’s alright,” he whispered. “I just want to look.” He laid his hand on her forehead and closed his eyes. He was able to see into memories – a trick he learned from the Mind Stone - but just like with the tesseract, navigating someone’s mind was often much harder than he wanted it to be.</p><p>He sought the memory of the curse in Kuna’s mind but was confronted by a thrashing darkness that immediately attacked his presence. He felt a sharp, shattering pain in his chest and deeper still in his magical essence and was knocked back to reality.</p><p>“No! No, no!” she screamed in pain, recoiling from Loki.</p><p>Loki gasped, letting go of Kuna. She leapt out of his arms and ran back into the hivetent, sobbing. Loki sat stock still for a moment, unmoving. A tear fell formed in the corner of Loki’s eye. He was breathing hard. He had not seen anything in her mind but what he had felt jarred him. He was overcome by a sudden, immense wave of raw emotion. He fell forward on his hands and knees, shaking with sentiment. Tears fell onto the blades of grass he stared at as he sobbed uncontrollably.</p><p><em>You moron, you let her too close to you. Now, look what she’s done.</em> The voice had returned.</p><p>He swallowed hard and wiped away the tears with the back of his hand. He shook his head, trying to banish the voice back to his corner. He stood slowly and looked back towards the tent.  He hurt for Kuna, for hurting her. He did not want to cause her anymore pain. He squished uncomfortably through the tent’s door. A quick glance through the room brought up nothing.</p><p>“Kuna?” Loki asked, looking around. There was no way she had come back out.</p><p>A shuffling noise brought Loki’s attention to her bedroll beside his. She had flattened out underneath it but now Loki could see the little lump trembling beneath the fabric. He walked over and sat down beside her. She gasped and whimpered at the sound of him outside her little shelter. He gently lifted the edge of the blanket. Kuna buried her head into her stuffed animals.</p><p>“I’m sorry, Kuna,” Loki said. “It wasn’t my intention to hurt you. It never is.”</p><p>She lifted her head a little, resting it on top of her toys but still not daring to meet Loki’s eyes.</p><p>“I want to help you,” Loki continued. “But everything I do, everything I’ve done has led to your tears. Your pain. I’m so sorry.”</p><p>“Not everything,” Kuna whispered.</p><p>“Hmm?” Loki was surprised by her response.</p><p>Kuna climbed out from under the blanket and sat down next to Loki. “Not everything you do hurts. You saved me from the gigagrunt and you gave me new clothes and new toys and you make my hair look pretty and you make me smile sometimes and I don’t smile a lot. Not everything you do makes me cry.”</p><p>She leaned her head against his arm. He looked down at her, blinking a few times to keep himself from crying again. He had to look around a moment to keep the tears in his eyes. He thought he truly was going soft.</p><p>“We need to go somewhere,” he said. “Somewhere that isn’t very safe.”</p><p>Kuna nodded. “Are we going back to Tenanci’i?”</p><p>“Ha, no. This place is far more dangerous.”</p><p>“The alcohol planet?”</p><p>Loki sighed. He wished it were the alcohol planet.</p><p> </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p>“But I thought you hated Asgard!” Kuna said.</p><p>“I do!” cawed the raven on her shoulder. “But there’s something here we need.”</p><p>“Why can’t you make yourself look like a different person instead of a bird?”</p><p>“Because there are people here that know the signs of my magic and if I’m seen here, they’ll probably chop my head off. The smaller the disguise, the more discreet we’ll be. No one suspects a girl with a raven. All the kids in Asgard have ravens.” Bird Loki said.</p><p>“Do all the kids have talking ravens?” Kuna asked.</p><p>“You’re the only one that can hear me, but everyone can hear you so stop talking to me. Stick to the plan, remember. You’re here to get books for you father from the Great Library.”</p><p>Kuna nodded. She walked through the crowd of people. It felt like she had been walking forever. Loki had teleported them onto another planet and they had walked into Asgard through a portal Loki said was a secret. He said it was the safest way to enter Asgard without anyone knowing. They had discussed their plan the whole way and Loki had made her repeat it over and over again to make sure she knew it by heart. He made it very clear how important it was for her to never say his name out loud.</p><p>“Turn right,” Loki said.</p><p>Kuna followed his directions. She wanted to see the gigantic, golden building they had seen when they arrived. She had never seen so much gold.</p><p>“Now, turn left.”</p><p>The buildings around her rose high into the sky. Impossibly high, she thought. She looked up to see where the tops reached the sky and nearly fell over from dizziness.</p><p>“Your other left, Kuna,” Loki grumbled.</p><p>“Oh.” Kuna turned around and went down the proper street. The city was teeming with activity. It was almost overwhelming to Kuna but the presence of Loki on her shoulder kept her attention on the mission. She wove in and out of the crowd, listening to Loki’s occasional directions.</p><p>“Now, just go up those steps and down the esplanade and the library is on the left.”</p><p>Kuna’s eyes widened at the mountain of steps in her way. She looked at the bird on her shoulder.</p><p>“I have tiny legs,” she said, quietly.</p><p>“Well that's unfortunate. I have wings,” Loki laughed. His laugh came out as a raspy caw. “Come on, it’s not that many. I’ll meet you at the top.”</p><p>“Don’t leave!” she said as he flew off, cackling the whole way. “Meanie,” she grumbled and started up the steps.</p><p>On either side of the staircase, shops lined the walls, taking up the dead space in the foundations of the massive buildings above them. She saw food being sold and special drinks which smelled like apples, other shops sold clothes and shoes and other strange things she had never seen before. Adults walked past her on the stairs, some even taking them two at a time. Groaning, she continued to climb.</p><p>As she reached the halfway point, she heard a racket of animal cries coming from a shop front a few more steps above her. She hurried up the stairs, tripping a few times on the tall steps until she reached the landing of the shop. There were little cages hanging on hooks holding all sorts of animals: ravens, owls, squirrels, weird-looking monkeys, cats with wings, rabbits with horns.</p><p>Kuna gasped in wonder at all the unique little animals and she could hear more inside. Before she could take a step inside, there was a sharp tug on her hood.</p><p>“Hey! You already have a bird! Me!” Loki crowed, flapping above her head. “Come on. We have a mission, remember?”</p><p>Kuna frowned and backed out of the doorway. She just wanted to look and maybe pet them. Loki settled back down on her shoulder.</p><p>“I leave you alone for five minutes,” Loki grumbled.</p><p>“Do you think they have dragons?” she asked.</p><p>“Shh!” Loki chortled. “You can’t have dragons in the city. Now, come on. We have to get to the library and then get off this awful planet.”</p><p>Kuna whined and started back up the steps. She wanted to see a dragon so bad. She did not want to go to the library. Books were dumb. The Masters forbid the slaves to touch them. Her mommy and daddy only had a couple, and they were full of letters she could never read. The only letters she knew were the ones on her wrist that spelled her name.</p><p>She finally reached the top of the stairs and found a big, open street.</p><p>“Look up, Kuna,” Loki said.</p><p>She did and gasped. The giant golden palace she had seen when they arrived towered over her. She had to cover her eyes at the sunlight glittering off the sides of it.</p><p>“I used to live there,” he said. “The library is that way.” He pointed with his beak.</p><p>Kuna struggled to pull her eyes away from the palace. She wondered how many rooms there were. Then she felt a pit in her stomach as she thought about how awful it would be to have to clean them all.</p><p>“But I thought we had to go in the Palace,” she whispered.</p><p>“You can’t just walk in there. You have to have a reason. Normally. And we don’t. So, we’re sneaking in. I know a secret way from one of the sections of the Great Library. It’ll put us out right where we want to be. We talked about this.”</p><p>They had talked about a lot of things. Kuna did her best to understand everything Loki told her, but he talked a lot. She continued down the street towards the library, trying her hardest to focus on their mission.</p><p>The Great Library was lavishly decorated in gold as well, with statues of warriors holding up the roof of a long patio. People sat on benches and chairs, reading and chatting. Children played, chasing birds and throwing marbles. Kuna felt very uncomfortable. As she approached the giant doors of the library, her discomfort was amplified by the two guards in armor holding spears.</p><p>“Just walk by,” Loki said. “You’re just a normal kid.”</p><p>She didn’t feel normal. She gulped and started into the daunting library but before she could step in, the guard stopped her, sharply crossing the butt of his spear in front of her path. The movement made her and Loki both jump. He flapped his wings to keep his balance on her shoulder.</p><p>“No pets in the library,” the guard said, gruffly.</p><p>“If only you knew, peasant,” Loki spat.</p><p>“Oh, um, I’m sorry, sir,” Kuna said. She walked away from the door and other people went in, looking down at her.</p><p>“You’ll have to go in by yourself,” Loki said. “I thought this might happen. Just go to the head librarian and give her the paper I gave you. Tell her why you’re here. She will take you to the section. I’ll try to find another way in and meet you. Like we practiced, remember?”</p><p>“We didn’t practice this! Can’t you just make yourself smaller?” Kuna whispered.</p><p>“In front of all these people? No! You can do this. It’s easy. Like I said. Go on.”</p><p>“But I’m scared.”</p><p>“There’s nothing to be afraid of. They’re just librarians.”</p><p>Kuna whined and wrung her hands. She reached in her satchel for the piece of paper he had given her.</p><p>“That’s it. You can do it. Now, just go inside.”</p><p>“Okay,” Kuna said, meekly.</p><p>Loki took off and lighted on a tree branch outside the roof of the library patio. Kuna watched him go and then turned back to the door and the guards. She walked back to the door. The guard let her pass this time without so much as a glance. She trembled as she walked in, her eyes adjusting to the darker interior.</p><p>Inside, a massive dome rose above her head, painted with the branches of a great tree. At the end of each branch rested a different planet. She recognized the blue one as the Midgard that Loki hated. She shook her head, regaining her focus. The mission. She had to focus on the mission.</p><p>There were people everywhere. Bumping into her and bustling around the large, circular foyer of the library. Stairs wound up and down to different sections of shelves that were lined from wall to wall with books. Despite the activity in the library, it was incredibly quiet. The people around her whispered to each other in small voices. Kuna watched them for a moment, scared that they might be talking about her. She suddenly felt very small. Scrunching the piece of paper to her chest, she looked around frantically for someone that looked like a head librarian. Whatever that looked like.</p><p>She saw a desk with people behind it and started quickly towards it. Suddenly, surprised gasps rang out from around the library atrium. Kuna stopped in her tracks, thinking she had done something wrong. Turning hastily to go back the way she came; she ran right into a woman’s legs. Falling back, she heard more gasps, even cries of shock. She cowered, looking around at all the people now glaring at her. Her eyes rose to the woman she had run into and she could not keep herself from gasping in awe.</p><p>She was beautiful. Her light brown hair was done up around her head in braids, the rest flowing down her back. As light filtered in from outside, it caught gilded tresses of her hair in its grasp causing them to gleam around her brow. She wore a yellow dress that draped just along the floor, embroidered with golden knotwork similar to that the adorned Kuna’s own cape. Her expression was soft and kind. Kuna felt a warmth emanating from her.</p><p>She was attended by several other younger woman, who all now glared at Kuna with same venom as the rest of the crowd in the library. Kuna could feel the sting of their eyes. It snapped her attention back to the present moment. She looked down as she gathered her feet.</p><p>“I’m so sorry, ma’am,” she said.</p><p>“’Ma’am’?” one of her attendants spat. “You will address her as --”</p><p>Kuna flinched hard, expecting the woman to hit her.</p><p>“Oh, that’s enough, now, Hlín. She’s just a child,” the radiant lady said, dismissing the nasty attendant with a wave of her hand. “You can call me Frigga, little one.”</p><p>“My lady, I—” the attendant began but she was cut off again.</p><p>“I’m sorry, little one, for Hlín’s behavior and for knocking you over,” Frigga said to Kuna. “What’s your name?”</p><p>“Kuna,” she whispered.</p><p>“Kuna. What a lovely name.”</p><p>She looked up at her again and gave her a small smile. Frigga smiled back at her and Kuna once again felt the warmth radiate from her.</p><p>“Are you here by yourself, Kuna?”</p><p>“Y-Yes, m-m-m,” Kuna stammered. “M-my lady,” she finished, copying the attendant Hlín. Kuna was suddenly reminded of her task. “I’m h-here to find books for my f-father.”</p><p>“Oh, well aren’t you sweet.”</p><p>The women behind her whispered to each other, giggling and snickering amongst themselves. Kuna looked down at her feet, holding the piece of paper tighter. Frigga straightened up and turned to her attendants.</p><p>“Ladies, wait for me outside. I’m going to see that Kuna finds the books she’s looking for.”</p><p>“But, my lady, you have other appointments—”</p><p>“Ah-ah,” she cut them off. “Please.” She made a smooth gesture with her hand toward the door.</p><p>The women picked up their dresses and walked out of the library in a huff. Kuna watched them go, turning her attention back to the radiant lady.</p><p>“Now, are those the books your father has asked for?”</p><p>“Yes, my lady,” Kuna replied, holding out the paper.</p><p>“Very good. Let’s take that to the head librarian. Have you ever been to the Great Library before?” She took Kuna’s hand and walked with her towards the desk.</p><p>“No, my lady. This is my first time. Papa gave me his card and the note so I could check them out,” Kuna said, reciting the lines she had practiced with Loki.</p><p>“All by yourself? Well, you’re a very big girl. What do you think of the library?”</p><p>“It’s very big,” Kuna replied. “I think I might get lost.”</p><p>“Ha,” Frigga giggled. “Yes, it’s a little overwhelming, isn’t it?”</p><p>Kuna nodded.</p><p>“That’s what the librarians are here for. They know where every book is in this library.”</p><p>“All of them?” Kuna asked, looking at the stacks and stacks of books, that lined the walls and the mazes of shelves that twisted and turned through just the main floor alone, not to mention the upper floors she could not see.</p><p>“Yes!”</p><p>“How many books are there?”</p><p>“Oh, millions,” Frigga said, flippantly. Kuna’s jaw dropped. “Perhaps even hundreds of millions, with more being printed and acquired every day.”</p><p>“Wow,” Kuna breathed.</p><p>“I check out several dozen new books each day. I love reading. Do you?”</p><p>Kuna made herself smaller. “I don’t know how to read, my lady,” she said very softly.</p><p>Frigga looked down at her sympathetically. “That’s alright, dear. I’m sure your father will teach you soon. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”</p><p>They stepped up to the front desk. Kuna’s head barely graced the top of the counter. She had to stand on her tiptoes to see over.</p><p>“Good day, Dagruna,” Frigga said to the woman behind the desk. “This young lady has a list of books she needs to check out for her father. He’s sent her here with his card and a note with the books he needs.”</p><p>“Of course, Your Majesty,” Dagruna said.</p><p>Kuna focused all of her thought on what she and Loki had practiced. She stood on her toes and pushed the piece of paper across the desk to the librarian.</p><p>“H-hello, ma’am. My f-father sent me to find these b-books for him, but I don’t know how to find them. Can you help me, please?”</p><p>“Let me see,” Dagruna took the paper and examined it. “Hmm, well I can take you to this section, darling, but one of these books, <em>The Cultural History of Mushroom Production</em> is for reference only. It can’t be checked out. Perhaps, you can make a copy of the section your father needs?”</p><p>“Um... yes, ma’am.” Kuna said. Loki said that one was the book they would not let them have.  He said the book was so dull no one ever looked at it so, they never saw the button hidden behind it that opened a secret door. Not even the librarians knew it was there.</p><p>“’<em>The Cultural History of Mushroom Production’</em>, hmm?” Frigga said. “Sounds like a real page turner.”</p><p>She and the librarian laughed. Kuna smiled awkwardly, not understanding what was funny.</p><p>“Well, darling, Dagruna will take care of you from here,” Frigga said. “Be safe returning home to your father. I hope we meet again.”</p><p>“Me too, my lady,” Kuna said. She looked down and then quickly added, “I think your dress is pretty. And your hair.”</p><p>Frigga smiled affectionately. “Why, thank you, darling! You are so sweet! You know, the style of braid in your hair is my favourite.”</p><p>Kuna smiled bashfully and ran her hands over her braid.</p><p>“Take good care of her, Dagruna. Oh, and let’s get a stool for the children to stand on when they come up to the desk, hmm?”</p><p>“Yes, milady,” Dagruna replied.</p><p> Dagruna led Kuna up several sets of stairs and through the maze of shelves to a corner deep in the library. She picked up a couple books along the way and then stopped at a shelf on the back wall. It was dark in this corner, the light coming from a tall window high above them and two candle lanterns spaced evenly apart. There were desks lining the wall leading back towards the front of the library, or at least what Kuna thought was the front of the library. She was quite lost.                                </p><p>Dagruna set the other books down on one of the desks along with a quill, ink, and some paper and pulled down another book from the top shelf. She set it down on the table as well and looked at Kuna.</p><p>“Here are the books your father has requested. These two can be checked out, but this one must remain here. So, I’ve brought you a quill, some ink, and paper to make a copy of the section he wants. They’re enchanted so just tell them where to start and end their copying.”</p><p>“Yes, ma’am,” Kuna said, nodding. “Thank you for your help.”</p><p>“Very good,” she said and left.</p><p>Kuna looked around frantically. Where was Loki? He said he would be here. She looked back down at the big book in front of her and then at the quill. The librarian said it was enchanted. Kuna knew that meant with magic. She poked it with her finger, but it did nothing. She opened the book. There were sticks drawn all over the page. She knew they were letters, but she didn’t know what they said. She turned the page, more sticks. Page after page she turned, and she found nothing but sticks until a she came to a page that had a picture of a mushroom. She traced it with her finger.</p><p>She sighed and wondered how much longer Loki would be. She set the book down open on the page with the mushroom and the quill suddenly snapped to the ready. It dipped itself in ink and hovered over the blank paper. Kuna jumped and looked around. Very slowly, she pointed to the picture of the mushroom and the quill began copying at lightning speed. The pages of the book turned over at their own will and the quill began copying down their contents on the paper the librarian had provided.</p><p>Kuna climbed down from the chair. She did not like the magic quill. She wanted Loki. She was worried about him. He had told her how dangerous it was for him here. What if the guards had caught him? What if they had cut off his head? Her palms started to sweat, and her stomach hurt. She was beginning to tremble when someone touched her shoulder. She whipped around, opening her mouth to scream, but instead she got a mouthful of feathers.</p><p>“SHHHHH! You can’t scream in the library!” Loki hissed.</p><p>Kuna swallowed her scream and removed his wings from her mouth, spitting out his feathers.</p><p>“What took you so long?” he chirped. “I’ve been waiting in that window for ages! There’s a fat pigeon up there that won’t leave me alone.”</p><p>Kuna heard a soft cooing as a pigeon flapped precariously down from the window. It tumbled onto their table and hopped towards Kuna and Loki.</p><p>“Shoo! Shoo! Get out of here, you dumb bird.” He flapped his wings and snapped his beak at the pigeon, but it continued its pursuit. “Ugh, whatever. Is there anyone here?”</p><p>“No, I don’t think so,” Kuna whispered. “The librarian left me with that... thing.” Kuna pointed at the quill still racing across pages.</p><p>“Good. Go check these aisles. Make sure there’s no one coming.”</p><p>“Okay.”</p><p>Loki hopped off her shoulder and flapped away from the persistent pigeon. No matter where he flew the pigeon followed, snuggling up next to him and gently pulling at his feathers.</p><p>“Leave me alone!” he squawked, flying to another shelf.</p><p>Kuna returned a few moments later. “No one’s here,” she said.</p><p>“Good. Now – get off me you winged rat! - Now, climb up that shelf, where the librarian took down the book, and feel for a button on the back panel of the bookshelf.”</p><p>Kuna climbed up each of the shelves like a ladder while Loki desperately tried to separate himself from the clingy pigeon.</p><p>“Here, you want some food, you stupid thing?” he conjured a morsel of bread and flew down the aisle with it. The pigeon chased after him until he dropped the bread. It nosedived into the floor and began pecking savagely at the crumbs, mostly hitting the floor with its head. “Ugh, that ridiculous thing has brain damage or something,” Loki crowed in disgust.</p><p>Kuna reached the top shelf and felt for the button. Her fingers raked across a raised piece of wood on the back panel. She pushed on it and the bookshelf started to move. She jumped down from the shelf, landing on her feet. Loki lighted on her shoulder.</p><p>“Good job. Now, let’s get through before that pigeon attacks me again!”</p><p>Kuna pushed on the shelf and it opened backwards like a door. She quickly went through and turned to close it. The pigeon was flying right towards them.</p><p>“Close it! Close it!”</p><p>She shoved her shoulder against the shelf as hard as she could, pushing it closed just in time to hear the lusty pigeon splat against the books on the other side. The secret door clicked shut and they were plunged into a pitch black corridor.</p><p>“Ugh, finally away from that bird!” Loki said.</p><p>“I can’t see anything,” Kuna whispered.</p><p>“Don’t go anywhere just ye—” Loki began but was cut off as Kuna took a step forward and fell down a flight of stairs. She tumbled all the way down to the bottom.</p><p>“There are stairs there…” Loki grumbled. Kuna had accidentally flattened him in her descent.</p><p>“Ouchy,” Kuna said.</p><p>“You’re telling me,” he moaned.</p><p>“Sorry.”</p><p>Loki conjured a small orb of light to guide them through the rest of the corridor. It hovered over Kuna’s head and floated wherever she walked.</p><p>“At the end of this corridor is little crawlspace that leads to Odin’s study, where he keeps his private collection. You’re the perfect size to fit through. Well, I suppose I am too, at the moment,” he said, sizing himself up.</p><p>Kuna followed the corridor for a long time. It smelled dank and mouldy. She scrunched up her nose at the smell. She even saw green sludge oozing in from between the blocks in the walls.</p><p>“Do not taste that,” Loki said. “Turned my tongue green for a week. And tasted like Thor’s dirty socks. Blagh!”</p><p>“How do you know what that tastes like?” Kuna asked.</p><p>Loki stared at her, blinking his bird eyes. His head cocked a few times.</p><p>“You know, you’re very clever sometimes,” he replied.</p><p>She frowned at him. “Also, why would you put that in your mouth?”</p><p>“Alright, miss smartypants, I think that’s enough questions.”</p><p>Kuna giggled. They continued down the dark hallway until they came to a small opening in the base of the stone wall. Kuna thought it looked like a missing stone in the wall or perhaps the place where a grate once stood.</p><p>Loki hopped off her shoulder and fluttered to the ground.</p><p>“I’ll go through first to see if the coast is clear. Stay here,” he whispered.</p><p>Kuna nodded as Loki ducked through the opening. He quickly returned.</p><p>“Okay, Kuna. There is something very scary on the other side of this wall,” he said.</p><p>“Scary?” Kuna asked, she looked up at the wall and then back down at Loki. “Is it the King?” she asked, her voice small.</p><p>“No, but he may alert him if he hears us. His name is Mimir. I have no idea why Odin keeps him in a closet, but I think he’s covered with a blanket.”</p><p>“Is he sleeping?”</p><p>“No. Yes. Sort of.” Loki said. Kuna was becoming anxious. “He’s just a head.”</p><p>“A head. And it’s alive! Why does he have that—”</p><p>“Yes, it’s a long story. But listen to me, when you go through, you must be silent. Do you understand? You can’t make any noise or Mimir could alert Odin of our presence here.”</p><p>Kuna shook her head. “I’m scared!”</p><p>“I know you are, but we can do this. His head is covered up which means he can’t see us. If we’re silent, he’ll never know! It’s a tiny, little closet. Once we’re through the door, we’ll be fine!”</p><p>“How do you know the King isn’t on the other side?”</p><p>“Odin is in court all day today. And this is his private study. No one will be in here. Are you ready?”</p><p>Kuna shook her head.</p><p>“I’m going to be with you this time,” Loki said. “I won’t leave you.”</p><p>She took in a deep breath and let it out. Loki crawled through first and then Kuna. Once on the other side, her eyes adjusted to the darkness. She could see a tall table with a cauldron sitting atop it. A dark veil covered it, but she did not dare raise her gaze any higher. She and Loki silently crept around the table to the door. Kuna did not like the feeling inside that closet. She felt like she was being watched.</p><p>She carefully took hold of the handle of the door, slowly turning it until it opened. They both peeked out into the study to ensure Loki was right.</p><p>Kuna could see no walls in the entire study as they were all filled entirely with bookshelves and books. A large fireplace took up most of one wall, with an elegant armchair set in front of it. A great desk was laid out near the centre of the room, covered with books and papers. A staircase led to small landing and another door. High above, tall windows let in natural light, but even they were framed by bookshelves. However, there was not a soul in sight.</p><p>Kuna stepped out into the study and quietly closed the door behind her. She let a huge breath. She felt dizzy. She hadn’t realized she’d been holding her breath at all.</p><p>“Well done, Kuna. I knew you could do it,” Loki said.</p><p>Kuna smiled at him.</p><p>“Alright, let’s find these books.” He flew up and around the bookshelves, reading Odin’s section categories as he went. “Oh, here we go.” He stopped midway up one of the shelf walls about ten feet above Kuna’s head. She followed him. She kept looking over her shoulder at the door they had come through, afraid the scary head would open it and come out to catch them.</p><p>“Hmm. This is a good one. Catch,” Loki said. He pulled on the spine of the book with his talons until it fell from the shelf.</p><p>“Wha—” Kuna said, she put out her arms instinctively to catch it, but the massive book hit her like a ton of bricks, knocking her to the floor. She sat up and shook her head. “Ouch,” she hissed, glaring at Loki who was stifling his own laughter.</p><p>“Nice catch,” he chortled.</p><p>She frowned and set the heavy book carefully on the floor before standing up again.</p><p>“And this one.” Loki pulled out another one. This time Kuna was ready for it.</p><p>Loki continued picking out books until Kuna had a small stack at her feet. She kept checking on the doors, making sure no one came in and the head stayed inside its closet.</p><p>“Alright, I think that’s good,” Loki said.</p><p>Kuna knelt down and started putting the books inside her satchel.</p><p>“No, no. I’m taking them. It’s too risky for you to have them,” Loki said. He stood on top of the stack of books.</p><p>“Where are you going to put them?” Kuna asked.</p><p>“In my pocket? Where did you think?” Loki snapped his beak.</p><p>“Do ravens have pockets?”</p><p>Loki’s bird eyes narrowed on her. “You ask too many questions.”</p><p>Kuna smirked and stood. As she did, they heard the lock on the upstairs door click. Kuna gasped and whipped around. She could hear deep voices outside the door. She turned back to Loki, who had just made the stack of books disappear. She grabbed him and ran to the closet door. He squirmed in her arms. She silently crept back through the closet and wriggled through the opening in the wall.</p><p>“Wait,” Loki hissed once they were on the other side.</p><p>“What do you mean, ‘wait’?”</p><p>“Just wait here,” he said and hopped back through the hole.</p><p>Kuna followed him, staying silent. Through the door, they could hear two men talking.</p><p>“—take care of the rest of court today. I must retire to my study,” one man said.</p><p>“But sire, there is urgent business that requires your attention! The Bifrost for one—”</p><p>“The Bifrost will remain in its current condition until that son of mine returns with the war criminal Loki and the tesseract.”</p><p>Loki puffed out his feathers. Kuna’s mouth fell open at the conversation she was hearing.</p><p>“Is there no other way to mend it?” the second man asked.</p><p>“No. The Bifrost was built using the knowledge and power harnessed from the tesseract by our ancestors. Without it, there is no way of fixing it. Now, leave me.”</p><p>“But sire, the prince is now stuck on Midgard. Loki is at large. The Convergence is upon us. The people are afraid.”</p><p>“Thor is stuck by his own doing. He failed! Now, he must figure out how to capture Loki with the help of his Midgardian allies. Without the Bifrost, we cannot aid him. As for the people, the Bifrost’s fracture aids us as well. We are self-sufficient. Without the Bifrost, our border is exceedingly secure—”</p><p>“But sire, Loki could appear at any moment using the tess—”</p><p>“I KNOW WHAT LOKI CAN DO!” the King shouted. “I KNOW WHAT HE IS!” His voice made Kuna flinch. Loki’s attention was fully on the line of light under the door, listening. “You forget I raised him. I know full well what he is capable of. NOW, LEAVE!”</p><p>“Yes, sire,” the other man said obediently. His footsteps were quick up the stairs and out the door.</p><p>Kuna did not wait either. She grabbed Loki once again and scurried back out the opening. Once in the corridor, she ran as fast as she could through the darkness, holding Loki to her chest.</p><p>“Kuna, you can stop running,” Loki said, his voice wobbling with Kuna’s footfalls.</p><p>She slowed, breathing hard.</p><p>“I told you to wait,” he said, his voice was calm as he climbed up from her arms onto her shoulder.</p><p>“I don’t like that man,” she huffed. “Is that your…?”</p><p>“The man that raised me,” he said, solemnly.</p><p>“He’s mean!”</p><p>“Let’s get out of here.” He created the little ball of light again for Kuna to see.</p><p>They went along in silence through the hallway until Kuna got to the stairs leading to the secret door. She climbed up them and found an iron ring on the door to pull on. She lifted it and heard a click. The door moved towards her and she carefully peeked out. Seeing no one in the aisleway, nor the lusty pigeon, she crept out and gently closed the shelf until it clicked closed once again.</p><p>“You know, my son, Loki, used to spend hours in this section,” Frigga said.</p><p>The sound of her voice made both Kuna and Loki jump. Loki’s feathers puffed out, standing on edge. He spread his wings out, making himself look much bigger.</p><p>“I never could understand what his fascination was with mushroom production,” Frigga continued. She sat at the desk Kuna had been sitting at, thumbing through the large volume on <em>The Cultural History of Mushroom Production</em>. “Until I found out he was quite the little sneak himself.” She smiled at her. “What a handsome bird.”</p><p>Loki flapped his wings and snapped his beak. A loud coo came from the window above and the pigeon came careening down towards them. Loki took off from Kuna’s shoulder, dodging the pigeon as it missed him, nosediving into the floor.</p><p>Frigga giggled. “I guess I’m not the only one who thinks so.”</p><p>Kuna was trembling. She had said ‘her son, Loki’. Frigga was Loki’s momma. Was she like his daddy? She wasn’t mean, was she? Had she tricked her? She was scared.</p><p>“Now, Kuna,” she said. Loki snapped his head towards Kuna, clicking his beak angrily. “You didn’t lick that nasty green goop that oozes out of those walls, did you?”</p><p>Kuna shook her head frantically.</p><p>“Good. Loki did that once – only once, mind you – turned his tongue green for a week!”</p><p>Loki hissed at Frigga. Kuna did not dare look at Loki, lest give him away. Frigga just smiled at them.</p><p>The pigeon bounced around Kuna’s feet, every now and then flapping up towards Loki only to tumble back down to the ground. Loki hissed at the pigeon, snapping his beak. This seemed to rally the poor creature, which now flew up towards him nearly knocking him off Kuna’s shoulder. Kuna caught it and held it still in her arms.</p><p>Frigga giggled. “Well, since pets aren’t allowed in here, you’re going to need to get out another way. I know just the place; another secret exit I sometimes use. Follow me, sweetheart.”</p><p>Loki pulled on Kuna’s hair and shook his head back and forth. Kuna looked at him with big, scared eyes. She did not know what to do.</p><p>“It’s alright, lovely. Perfectly safe and no green ooze for him to lick.”</p><p>Loki looked up at Frigga sharply. Kuna could not see any other way for her to go. She walked towards Frigga with Loki and the weird pigeon. Frigga let down her hand for Kuna to hold. She took it cautiously.</p><p>“Am I in trouble,” she asked, quietly.</p><p>“No! No, no, darling. Not at all. I won’t tell anyone, I promise.”</p><p>Kuna was not reassured by this. Her heart was pounding. She looked at Loki, hoping he would say something to help her, but he just sat on her shoulder, acting like a bird, occasionally hissing at the pigeon in her arm.</p><p>Frigga led her into a room with many tables and chairs. Books lined the walls intermittently interrupted by eight small statues on pedestals depicting different figures. One looked like a warrior, another a beautiful lady, another held a big hammer in his hand. As they passed by them, Kuna saw one small pedestal without a statue. Loki hissed at it and puffed up again.</p><p>In one corner of the room, there was a small arched door. Frigga opened it. It was filled with brooms and mops, cleaning supplies, and buckets. Kuna’s heart fluttered and she turned away.</p><p>“It’s alright, dear. We just have to step over some of this. Come on, this way!” She held out her hand again as she stepped over a mop bucket towards the back of the tiny room. Kuna took her hand, and Frigga gently closed the door behind them. She drew a pattern on the wall with her finger. Golden tendrils of light trailed behind it as she traced a symbol on the wall. When she finished, the blocks parted, making an opening to a lit staircase.</p><p>Frigga turned and smiled at Kuna. “Much better than that dank, old tunnel, isn’t it?”</p><p>Kuna did not reply. She followed Frigga down the steps. The wall rebuilt itself behind them, making Kuna flinch. She hopped down several steps to catch up with Frigga. This corridor was short, lit by small torches on the wall. It was not long before they came to another door, this one larger. Frigga opened this one with a key she seemingly produced from her sleeve.</p><p>The light from outside was blinding. It took a moment for their eyes to adjust. Frigga led Kuna outside and down a quiet street.</p><p>“W-where are we going, my lady?” she asked.</p><p>“I think it’s best that you had an escort through the city, at least until you’re outside its limits, so I can send you on your way to your <em>father</em>,” Frigga said.</p><p>“O-okay.”</p><p>The pigeon began wriggling in Kuna’s arms. She set it down gently on the ground and it fluttered up to Loki, who hissed and swatted at it, before it flew up to a branch in a nearby tree. Kuna looked back at Frigga. She waved her hand in front of herself and more golden light swirled from her fingertips. Kuna took a step back in fright as Frigga’s face began to change. Her clothes too turned from elegance to plainness.</p><p>“It’s quite alright, darling. It’s still me. We’ll just be able to move more discreetly this way. I’m sure you understand,” she said with a smile unchanged. Her new visage was still just as radiant. Frigga turned and led them off.</p><p>They came back to the large esplanade where Kuna had entered the Great Library. Frigga walked with purpose and Kuna sometimes struggled to keep up with her. They passed in front of the gigantic golden palace. Kuna could tell this made Loki very uncomfortable. He flapped his wings and snapped his beak and even pulled on Kuna’s hair from time to time. But Frigga paid no mind to him, she only held on to Kuna’s hand and walked through the crowd.</p><p>Kuna was still in awe of the palace. She stared at its sparkling towers. Rows of guards lined the front steps up to the massive carved doors. This scared her and she walked closer to Frigga.</p><p>“Do you like the Palace, Kuna?” Frigga asked.</p><p>“It’s pretty but scary.”</p><p>“Oh, yes, well I suppose it does look a little scary right now with all the Einharjar. They’re there to protect the King. But the Palace itself is rather marvelous, isn’t it?”</p><p>Kuna nodded. After a moment she asked, “How many rooms are there?”</p><p>“Oh! You know, Loki and I counted once. It took us an entire month to count them all! There are three thousand nine hundred and thirty nine rooms.”</p><p>Kuna’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped. Frigga laughed at her response.</p><p>“Who cleans them all?” Kuna asked.</p><p>“Well, we have a whole staff of servants and maids that take care of the Palace. But not all of those rooms are used all of the time. Loki and I found rooms in our ‘Great Counting’ that hadn’t been used in millennia. I even documented them in a book. The very first book about the Palace and its history and architecture. Loki was not much older than you are now, but he was so excited because I put his name on the book as well. He helped, of course. There was no way I was going to count all those rooms by myself!</p><p>Loki fluttered on Kuna’s shoulder, standing taller. Kuna looked back at the Palace, trying to imagine what three thousand nine hundred and thirty nine rooms looked like and trying not to imagine what it would be like to clean any of them.</p><p>“It kept him out of trouble too,” Frigga added. Loki slouched. Kuna tried not to laugh at him, even trying to suppress her smile.</p><p>They continued past the Palace towards a cluster of large, gold buildings. Kuna saw men on horses ride by some carrying spears, others swords or axes. Frigga turned down the street they had come from and Kuna stayed close by her side. As they passed by one of the golden buildings, Kuna heard horses whinnying and snorting. She turned and saw a huge stables. The doors were open wide. Men and women bustled about leading horses in and out of stalls, grooming them and saddling them.</p><p>Kuna gasped and reached into her satchel for Nira, her sleipnir stuffed animal. She squeezed it to her chest and watched the horses as they walked. Frigga looked down at her and smiled.</p><p>“Aww, who is this?” she asked, pointing to the toy.</p><p>“Her name is Nira,” Kuna said. Loki pulled on her hair. “Ouch, hey!”</p><p>“Well, she looks just like Sleipnir! My husband’s horse. Would you like to meet him?”</p><p>“Yes, yes, yes!” Kuna exclaimed but Loki hopped up and down on her shoulder, cawing in her ear. “Or, um, maybe not. I-I should probably be going, going home. T-to my daddy,” she said, dejectedly. Loki nodded sharply.</p><p>Frigga leaned down to her, looking her in the eyes and smiled. “We’ll be quick. He won’t know,” she whispered and took Kuna’s hand.</p><p>Loki cawed in protest but was ignored by all. Frigga walked Kuna into the stables and to the very back, the biggest stall. A gigantic grey horse stood inside. He had a white blaze on his face and a long black mane plaited back along his neck. Frigga changed herself back to her normal appearance.</p><p>“Your Majesty, I didn’t know you’d be visiting today,” said a man.</p><p>“No need to worry, Ottar. We’re just passing by. I’m escorting this little lady back to her father. I didn’t want a crowd of followers after us,” Frigga replied.</p><p>“I certainly understand, milady. Is there anything I can do to assist you? Is this little one lost?”</p><p>“Oh no, it’s just her first time alone in our big city. A bit daunting. But she’s a big fan of our lovely Sleipnir, so I thought I’d introduce her.”</p><p>“Bless her. Here’s some of his favourite treats,” Ottar said, smiling, handing Frigga a few lumps of sugar.</p><p>“Thank you, Ottar. Oh, and please, do not tell anyone of our visit. Especially the King. He’s quite stressed as you know.”</p><p>“Of course, milady!”</p><p>“Very good.”</p><p>Kuna watched the interaction between Frigga and Ottar. Loki hopped up and down on her shoulder, shaking his head. She turned back to Sleipnir. Frigga opened the stall door and led Kuna inside. Kuna was amazed by Sleipnir’s size. He was five times bigger than all the other horses with twice the number of legs. He took a few steps towards her, his many legs creating a rumble on the dirt floor. He lowered his head to her and nuzzled her hair. Kuna and Frigga both giggled. She pet his nose and rubbed his face. Sleipnir raised his nose to Loki, sticking out his upper lip. Loki snapped at him, bobbing his head up and down.</p><p>“Hey! Be nice, grumpy,” Kuna said to him.</p><p>Frigga laughed. “Do you want to feed him, Kuna?”</p><p>“Can I?”</p><p>“Here, hold your hand out flat like this.” Frigga showed her and placed a sugar lump in her palm.</p><p>Sleipnir picked it up with his mouth and munched on it and then nuzzled Kuna again for another one.</p><p>“Aww, he likes you,” Frigga said.</p><p>Kuna smiled and hugged his face, petting him. Frigga gave her another sugar lump to feed him.</p><p>“He’s so soft.”</p><p>“He is. They keep him well groomed here. Even though he doesn’t particularly like baths.”</p><p>“Me neither,” Kuna whispered to him. Frigga laughed. Loki pulled on Kuna’s braid again. “Ow! Okay! My lady, Frigga. I think we should go. Grumpy is getting grumpier.”</p><p>“Alright. Well, if Grumpy says so,” she snickered. “Say goodbye.”</p><p>“Bye-bye, Sleipnir! It was nice meeting you,” Kuna said. She gave him one last pet and then a hug and followed Frigga out the stall door.</p><p>She changed her appearance again and they left the stables, walking together hand in hand. They continued past a number of shiny buildings with shiny guards. Loki was calmer now that they were moving again but he still shifted about on Kuna’s shoulder. Kuna herself felt quite happy with Frigga and followed her closely. They walked for a long time before finally leaving the din of the city for the lengthy road Kuna and Loki had walked in on.</p><p>Frigga led them all the way down the road until it entered a forest. She then tightened her grip on Kuna’s hand. Looking quickly over her shoulder, she darted off the road, dragging Kuna with her.</p><p>“Where are we going?” Kuna cried.</p><p>Frigga did not answer, she just continued to pull Kuna further into the dense forest. Loki cawed and flapped his wings. They went further and further, until the road was far out of sight. Frigga continued looking over her shoulder. Kuna pulled at her hand and tried to pry Frigga’s fingers off her wrist but had no luck.</p><p>Loki took off from Kuna’s shoulder and flew up in front of Frigga, stopping her in her tracks. He cawed and flashed his talons.</p><p>“Oh, you,” Frigga huffed. She let go of Kuna’s arm. “You’re going to tell me what’s going on right now!”</p><p>“I-I-I—” Kuna stammered.</p><p>“Oh, not you, darling,” Frigga said, the soft demeanor returning to her voice as she looked back at Kuna. “Him!” She pointed vehemently at Loki.</p><p>He tried to fly to Kuna, but Frigga grabbed her hand again giving Loki a hard glare. Kuna cowered, trying to fall down to release Frigga’s grip from her hand but she held her up.</p><p>“Now, you better come out, right now, young man—”</p><p>Loki hissed at her.</p><p>“Alright, then,” Frigga said. She flicked her hand at him, and a golden flash flew towards him. He dodged and she cast again and again until one hit him, and a full-sized-man-Loki fell out of the air. Kuna gasped and tried to run to him, but Frigga held onto her. “Now, what on Asgard is going on?”</p><p>“We’re leaving,” Loki said.</p><p>“You’re not.”</p><p>“This really isn’t the time or place for a reunion: “Most Wanted Man in the Nine Realms” and all.”</p><p>“I am not joking, Loki.”</p><p>“Neither am I. Kuna and I are getting off this planet now, before I’m led to the chopping block.”</p><p>Kuna looked up at Frigga, frightened. “Let go!” she cried. “I won’t let you chop off his head!”</p><p>“Oh, don’t be silly, love. I wouldn’t let that happen,” Frigga said to her. Kuna stopped struggling and looked up, confused. “Why would you tell her that, Loki?”</p><p>"It’s the truth, is it not?” he said, standing up. “Give her back, please.”</p><p>“Why do you have a child with you? Did you take her from someone?”</p><p>“Have I really fallen so low in your eyes, mother?”</p><p>“Answer me, Loki,” Frigga said, her voice resolute.</p><p>“I found her on a distant planet that held children as slaves. She was being tortured by her <em>masters</em>. So, I freed her. If that qualifies as taking her from someone, then, yes, I did. Although, those someones are now piles of bones at the bottom of a ditch.”</p><p>Frigga looked down at Kuna’s frightened face in shock.</p><p>“Oh darling,” she said, softly. She turned her gaze back to Loki. “And why, with everything that has happened, would you bring her here, of all places?”</p><p>Loki did not answer. His fists were clinched, his eyes dark.</p><p>“Were you using her to get close to your father?”</p><p>Loki smiled, wickedly. “So, you do think I’m a monster. Just like everyone else.”</p><p>“Loki, only you are saying that. Answer me!”</p><p>He drew in a sharp breath. He was ready to explode. Kuna hid her face in Frigga’s dress, bracing herself. Loki’s face relaxed and he looked down at the ground.</p><p>“That’s not why we’re here,” he said, his voice was barely a whisper. “You’re frightening her. I’m frightening her. Just let go of her and I’ll tell you what’s happening.”</p><p>“Loki, if you—”</p><p>“No tricks,” he said, putting up his hands. “It’s not fair to Kuna. She doesn’t know what’s going on.”</p><p>Frigga was taken aback by his response but let go of Kuna’s hand. She ran to Loki and hugged his leg, hiding behind him.</p><p>“I’m here for her,” Loki said. He looked down at Kuna. Frigga stared at them, confused.</p><p>"What do you mean?”</p><p>“Kuna, put your hands over you ears, like this.” Loki showed her, putting his hands on either side of his head. Kuna did as she was asked, and Loki started talking to Frigga.</p><p>All Kuna could here was Loki’s muffled voice and Frigga’s garbled responses of shock. She watched their body language. Loki’s hands and facial expressions and Frigga’s as well. Frigga kept glancing down at her with sad eyes. Kuna didn’t understand what had changed. She thought Frigga was going to turn Loki in to the King so they could chop off his head. She could not understand why Loki didn’t just teleport them away with the tesseract now that she was free from Frigga’s grip. Loki made the books they had taken appear from his pocket and showed them to Frigga. She came closer to him and examined the books, nodding as Loki continued to speak. She spoke to him with a serious look on her face, sometimes glancing down at Kuna. Loki, too, would look down at her from time to time with concern.</p><p> Finally, Loki gestured for Kuna to remove her hands from her ears.</p><p>“Were you using swear words?” she asked.</p><p>“Yes,” Loki lied.</p><p>“Loki!” Frigga scolded him, a smirk on her face.</p><p>He looked back at Frigga who still held the books in her hands. She gave them back to him. His eyes rose to meet hers.</p><p>“Loki,” she said. “I do not think you are a monster. I would never think that. You are my son. And I love you more dearly than anything in this universe. I was scared for you Loki. I mourned your death and when you returned… you did not seem the same. And how could I have expected you to be? I know you’re hurting. I can feel it. But I can also feel the healing. You have made me so proud, Loki.”</p><p>Loki stared into her eyes, not knowing how to react. Kuna watched them both, looking back and forth between them. Frigga put her hand on Loki’s chest and then hugged him. She was crying. He hugged her back, closing his eyes. They embraced for what felt like an eternity. Frigga straightened, smiling at him.</p><p>“You’re not angry with me?” he asked, bewildered.</p><p>“Well, I’m a bit cross about you beating up your brother and his friends on Midgard and there is the matter of the people who died there, but—”</p><p>“That’s not his fault!” Kuna chimed in.</p><p>“Kuna!” Loki hissed.</p><p>“What?” Frigga asked, looking up at Loki.</p><p>“Nothing. She doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”</p><p>“Yes, I—” Loki covered Kuna’s mouth with his hand and smiled at his mother. “You were saying you were cross with me?”</p><p>“Yes, I am! What are you going to do about Midgard?”</p><p>“I’ll figure something out. I’ve got more pressing problems, like someone who is LICKING MY HAND! GROSS, KUNA!”</p><p>“Aw, welcome to parenthood,” Frigga said, teasingly. “Speaking of, I’m a grandmother now!”</p><p>“Well, I wouldn’t go—”</p><p>“I always thought Thor would be the first one to give me grandchildren but here you are! Oh, I’m so happy!” Frigga leaned down and hugged Kuna who was not at all comfortable with it.</p><p>“Well, I haven’t exactly—"</p><p>“What do you mean you haven’t?” She let go of Kuna who backed away a bit befuddled.</p><p>“Excuse me? It took you fifteen hundred years to tell me!”</p><p>“Well, come on, then! You have to tell her!”</p><p>Loki rolled his eyes and looked at Kuna, flatly. “You’re adopted.”</p><p>“Loki!” Frigga scolded.</p><p>Kuna’s heart stopped. She looked back and forth between Frigga and Loki for a moment in shock. She gulped.</p><p>“Me?” she asked.</p><p>“Yes, you. You didn’t think I was just keeping you as a pet, did you?”</p><p>Frigga buried her face in her palm.</p><p>“You want me… to be… your daughter?” Kuna whispered.</p><p>“Would you rather be a raven?” Loki smiled.</p><p>“Loki!”</p><p>Kuna sobbed and ran to Loki, hugging his legs. She had never felt so happy in her entire life. It felt weird and nice and scary and magnificent all at the same time. Loki picked her up and held her on his hip. She put her arms around his neck and cried into his shoulder.</p><p>“Are these happy tears?” he whispered.</p><p>She nodded.</p><p>“Okay, just making sure.”</p><p>Frigga smiled at them both with happy tears in her eyes. Loki set Kuna down. She walked over to Frigga and gave her a hug, now a little more confident. Loki looked at her fondly and then up at Frigga. </p><p>“What will you do if Odin finds out?”</p><p>“He won’t find out.”</p><p>“I’ve ruined any deniability you could have had. If he—”</p><p>“This is not your concern, Loki. You have more pressing problems. And anyways, your father would not dare lay charges against me. You’ve seen me in court.” She smiled.</p><p>“I don’t know when it will be safe for us to come here again,” Loki said. Frigga smiled at him and put out her hands to him, palms up and he laid his hands in hers. Kuna watched them.</p><p>“Don’t worry,” Frigga said, a tear trailing down her cheek. “I’m always with you.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. The King of Books</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Loki begins studying curses while Kuna explores her new freedom and Loki's patience.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Chapter 12: The King of Books</strong>
</p><p>Kuna and Loki returned to the lush, green planet they had left. Loki liked how quiet it was. It would be a good place for them to lie low for a short time while he studied the books on curses they had taken and figure out the best course of action for Kuna. Frigga had given him plenty of advice and forewarning about what to expect when lifting her curse.</p><p>“You will likely have to confront the sorcerer who placed this curse on her,” she had said. They stood in the dense forest of Asgard while Kuna covered her ears. Loki did not want her hearing anything about the curse in case it would cause her further pain. “If he is alive, that is. If not, things may be even more complicated.”</p><p>“How do you mean?” Loki had asked her.</p><p>“If he’s not, you’ll have to attempt to lift the curse yourself. The books you’ve taken may help you more in that regard. All I know is that it is incredibly dangerous for everyone involved.” She looked down at Kuna with concern. “Curses like these can become their own sentient entities. Parasites that can protect and defend themselves, often with devastating consequences to the host.”</p><p>“Yes, I think I’ve already experienced this,” Loki replied, thinking back to how Kuna had kicked him out of her mind when he had tried to see her past. “I believe it has already begun to protect itself from being destroyed. I fear for Kuna’s safety, if I try this.”</p><p>“It can be done, Loki, but coercing the casting sorcerer is likely the safest route to lifting it.”</p><p>“Hmm. That might be difficult. He’s protected himself by not allowing Kuna to speak about the curse or her magic at all. Even if we do return to her home system, finding him would be like finding a needle in a haystack.”</p><p>“Well, you always did love a challenge, darling,” she said, affectionately.</p><p>They had bid farewell to Frigga in the forest and returned to the portal they had entered from. Loki did not dare use the tesseract on Asgard. The Allfather would surely have Asgard’s scholars looking for its energy signatures. The portal led out onto Alfheim where Loki could easily teleport them away to the safety of the green planet the tesseract had chosen for them.</p><p>They reappeared this time near a copse of trees in a deep valley. They seemed to be far from wherever they had camped last. The mountains were still visible but far in the distance and trees now dominated the landscape. Loki preferred the cover of the trees to the openness of the mountaintop. It felt more secure. They decided to make camp there. He set up the tent while Kuna explored the nearby trees.</p><p>“Don’t go too far,” Loki said. “I still find it strange that we’re the only living beings here.”</p><p>Kuna walked around the trees, feeling their bark with her hand. She could smell flowers and other earthy aromas that calmed her. She liked being outside, away from the nasty smelling city. She picked a suitable tree and climbed up it with ease. Loki was impressed.</p><p>He watched her hop from branch to branch with ease. She ran through the limbs of the trees, barely moving them as she went. Then, she crouched low and leapt from one tree to another and continued on bouncing through the branches like a little squirrel.</p><p>Loki smiled. It was nice to see her exploring and playing. He finished setting up their tent and began producing stacks of books, the books they’d stolen, for him to research. He picked a comfy looking tree and sat down, leaning back against it. A breeze whistled softly through the leaves above him and the grass at his feet. He had to admit that the tesseract had picked a nice planet for them to come to, though he still did not understand how.</p><p>He pushed the thought from his mind and set to reading his book <em>Curses and Their Counters</em>. It proved to be a long-winded, dense discussion on the morality of curses and why such magic should be banned from the modern grimoire. He rolled his eyes and set the book aside, picking up another.</p><p>Kuna spied on him from above, watching as he read speedily through each book and firmly set each aside. He shifted uncomfortably against the and rubbed his back. Grumbling to himself, he tossed another book away and picked up yet another. The stacks around him were growing ever higher.</p><p>Kuna quietly climbed down from her perch and snuck up behind him. Their satchel lay on the ground by the roots of the tree. Carefully, she put her hand into the bag, searching. Pushing aside her toys and various other items, her fingers landed on its decorated handle of the dagger Loki had purchased on Tenanci’i.</p><p>“What are you doing?” Loki asked, not looking up from his book.</p><p>“It’s a surprise?” Kuna said, wondering how he knew she was there.</p><p>“A surprise that requires a dagger normally ends up with someone dying,” he said, turning a page calmly. “Are you going to stab me?”</p><p>“No.”</p><p>“All right. Just don’t chop your fingers off.”</p><p>“I won’t!” She grabbed the dagger and ran off towards the trees.</p><p>“Walk!” Loki said. Kuna slowed, walking excitedly.</p><p>She approached a tree with long, hanging vines. She took hold of one and pulled, hoping it would come down on its own. But it held tight to its roost high in the tree. The tree itself looked wilted. Some of its leaves were still brown and the vines were starting to stifle the tree’s trunk and branches.</p><p>She climbed up to its tallest branches and began cutting down the long vines. When she had a nice pile at the base of the tree, she carefully climbed down and gathered them up. She wound them up in tight spools and looped them over her arms. Trouncing through the tall grass, she was careful to pass behind Loki so he wouldn’t see her surprise. She made her way back to the tree she had climbed before, tossing her vines on the ground, along with the dagger.</p><p>Plopping down on the grass, she began her work, unspooling the vines and laying them out in a grid around her. She stood and began to weave the vines in and around each other, over and under. Now and then, tying off an end and beginning with a new vine. When she was happy with her work, she hoisted it between two trees. She stood back, examining her creation. Nodding with satisfaction, she ran to Loki.</p><p>She stopped short, realizing Loki was deep in thought as he read. She was afraid to interrupt but excitement was boiling over her. “Loki?” she said, softly.</p><p>He looked up from his book at her. “Mmm? Please, don’t tell me you chopped off your fingers.”</p><p>“I didn’t,” she said, showing him all her fingers.</p><p>“Good,” he said. “What is it?”</p><p>“I made something for you.”</p><p>Startled, Loki looked back up. “You made something... for me?”</p><p>“Mmm-hmm.” She looked down at her feet, putting her hands behind her back.</p><p>He squinted at her and then smiled wickedly. “Young lady, if you stab me with that dagger...”</p><p>“It’s not the dagger!” she cried, laughing as he did. “Come and look!” She ran behind him and pushed on his back to make him stand. He purposely leaned back against her, smiling. “You’re so heavy!”</p><p>“Oh, all right,” he said, standing up quickly. Kuna fell forward on her face but jumped right back up again, grabbing Loki’s hand.</p><p>“This way! Close your eyes!”</p><p>“I don’t know if I like that.”</p><p>“It’s more of a surprise that way! Please!” she begged, looking up at him with big eyes. She pulled on his hand, making him lean over and whispered, “I promise I won’t stab you.”</p><p>“Oh, well when you put it that way.” He closed his eyes and let her lead the way.</p><p>She positioned him in front of the tree, making sure he was in just the right place to see her creation.</p><p>“Okay, okay. Open!”</p><p>Loki opened his eyes. Hanging between two trees was a beautifully crafted hammock. His lips parted in surprise at Kuna’s skill.</p><p>“It’s for you!” she said.</p><p>“For me?” he looked down at her. She nodded, smiling.</p><p>“So that you’re comfortable while you read.”</p><p>Loki didn’t know what to say. “It’s beautiful, Kuna. Where did you learn this?”</p><p>“All the slaves on Torileena know how make them. The Masters like to sleep in them to stay off the dirty ground. We put them way high up in the trees, away from all the scary monsters.”</p><p>“Where did you sleep?”</p><p>“On the ground,” she said. She took his hand again. “Come on! Try it!”</p><p>Loki climbed unsteadily into the hammock. It was the perfect size for him. He thought the vines would be rough on his skin but instead they were soft and supple. He looked down at Kuna.</p><p>“I love it but it’s missing something,” he said. Kuna frowned, looking around. Loki picked her up and set her down beside him in the hammock. “Ah. That’s better. Now it’s perfect.” She giggled and hugged him. “This is lovely, Kuna. Thank you.”</p><p>She cuddled next to him. He took out his book and began reading again. Kuna watched. She wondered what all the sticks on the page said.</p><p>“Does this book have pictures like the mushroom book?” she asked.</p><p>“No, I don’t think this one will have any pictures. If it does, they won’t be fun pictures,” Loki replied.</p><p>“Oh.”</p><p>“But I did manage to swipe a few storybooks from Odin’s study – I’m sure he won’t miss those either – they have lots of nice pictures in them.”</p><p>Kuna smiled for a moment, but it faded.</p><p>“Kuna, what’s wrong?”</p><p>“W-will you teach me how to read?” she asked, her voice barely audible.</p><p>“Of course, I will. We’ll learn with the storybooks just like I did.”</p><p>“Really?”</p><p>“Yes, I promise.”</p><p>Kuna’s smile returned. She laid her head against Loki’s shoulder. She hadn’t realized how tired she was until now. She slowly drifted off to sleep as the hammock swayed.</p><p>Loki tried to focus on his book but he too was quite tired. They were safe here and the hammock was far comfier than having to squish through the hivetent’s door, so he allowed himself to drift off as well. The matter of Kuna’s curse was not going to be solved in a day. He would need time to study and plan in order to ensure the curse was lifted properly.</p><p>For the first time in a while, he felt content with where he was. Kuna lay beside him peacefully. They were safe. He wasn't rotting in some prison. He had an ally in his mother. He had half expected her to hand him over to the guards. He was sure Odin had brainwashed her with falsified stories of his exploits on Midgard. Heimdall could no longer see Loki at all so his visions only came from his sightings of Thor. Of course, he had the rest of Asgard to watch over; he could hardly watch the prince all the time.</p><p>Loki had been surprised by Odin’s rebuke of his eldest, most beloved son. It seemed he was content with leaving Thor stranded on Midgard to stew in his 'failure’. Loki chuckled to himself. He could never think of a time when Odin had thought Thor had failed. Save, perhaps, for his most recent blunder with the Jotuns that had him exiled to Midgard the first time. This seemed far more serious. And it made Loki feel wickedly pleased with himself.</p><p><em>He hates you too, you know,</em> the voice in his head echoed.</p><p>“Please. As if I care,” Loki spat in thought.</p><p>
  <em>Oh, but I think you do.</em>
</p><p>“Why would I care what he thinks? He’s a…”</p><p><em>“He’s a murderer and a thief!” </em>Laufey’s voice rang out in Loki’s mind, jarring his memory back to Jotunheim. He shook his head. He didn’t like to think about that dreadful place or the time he and Thor had gone there together; when he had learned what he truly was.</p><p>
  <em>You’re a murderer and a thief too. Just like Odin.</em>
</p><p>“I am <em>not</em> just like Odin.”</p><p><em>But that’s all you’ve ever wanted to be, </em>the voice was cool. Loki could feel the treacherous sting behind his words. <em>Just like father.</em></p><p>“He’s not my father!” Loki shut the book in disgust with himself.</p><p>
  <em>Pathetic.</em>
</p><p>“What does it matter now anyway? He hates me.”</p><p>Loki’s eyes opened. He looked down at Kuna’s brown hair. His jaw tightened.</p><p>
  <em>Sentiment. For a child. Is this love?</em>
</p><p>Loki squeezed his eyes shut but was confronted by a sudden flash of memory. Sitting in the glass box on the helicarrier.</p><p><em>“Is this love, Agent Romanov?” </em>he scoffed.</p><p>Agent Romanov’s voice echoed in his head, <em>“Love is for children…”</em></p><p>Loki shook his head, rattling the memory away but her voice echoed.</p><p>
  <em>Sentiment.</em>
</p><p>Loki’s eyes opened, settling on Kuna. His breath was ragged and heavy.</p><p><em>Sentiment</em>, the word echoed through his mind so loud it seemed to rattle his in his skull.</p><p>A darkness settled over his vision, clouding everything. He tried hard to push the rage he was feeling down deeper. Imagining a bottomless chasm, he gathered all of his emotions and painful memories together and tossed them into the abyss. He seethed. He only felt angrier and more resentful.</p><p>“Loki?” Kuna’s voice broke him out of it.</p><p>He looked down at her. His eyes must have been fierce because she flinched.</p><p>“Are you okay?” she whispered.</p><p>“Hmm? Yes. I was just thinking,” Loki responded.</p><p>“Who were you talking to?</p><p>“Hmm? Oh, no one.”</p><p>Kuna sat quietly for a moment. She did not like the way Loki had looked just then. The way he had been staring through her made her feel nervous. “I’m cold,” she whispered.</p><p>“Are you? Let’s go inside. It’s getting dark.”</p><p>He got up out of the hammock and picked her up, taking the book with him as well. They went inside the hivetent and he set her down on the floor. She took out their bedrolls and spread them out for them both. She quietly removed her toys from the satchel and climbed into her bedroll, bundling up in it.</p><p>Loki paced with the book open, trying to distract himself. Kuna watched him walk back and forth, back and forth. Her stomach made an angry growling noise. Suddenly, he stopped and turned to her. She closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep. Loki raised a brow, unconvinced.</p><p>“Kuna? Oh dear, you’ve gone to sleep,” he said in mock disappointment. “I was just about to ask if you were hungry. I suppose not.”</p><p>Her eyes flew open, and she sat up quick. “I am hungry!” she said. “Please!”</p><p>“I thought so,” Loki smiled and conjured some food for her. She munched happily while he went back to reading. “I can’t believe I forgot to give you dinner. If I do that again, just tell me. Sometimes I forget to eat,” he said.</p><p>Kuna couldn’t imagine herself forgetting to eat. She liked food too much. She took another big bite of dried meat. She would just have to make sure he did not forget to eat.</p><p>“Aren’t you going to eat?” she asked, her mouth half full.</p><p>“I’m not very hungry right now,” he said, not looking up from his book. “Perhaps later.”</p><p>“Don’t forget.”</p><p>He smirked at his book. “I won’t.”</p><p>Kuna finished her meal and cuddled with her toys. She let out a big yawn, stretching her arms. Loki yawned as well. Kuna crawled over to him. He was intently reading a large brown book. She watched his eyes flit over the page. His finger traced a line down each side of the book as he read, before turning to the next page.</p><p>She looked at the big pile of books beside him. She started to reach for a big book with a pretty golden binding, but sharply pulled her hand away, jerking her head to the side as if she were hit. Loki noticed the sharp movement and felt a pang of sorrow for her.</p><p>“It’s all right, Kuna,” he said. His voice made her jump. “You can look at that one.”</p><p>She turned and looked at him. “Really?”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>She gingerly picked it up, opening its pages to find beautifully painted pictures. She gasped, staring at the bright colors and moving textures. Each picture gently flowed and undulated, giving movement to each scene. Characters bowed and danced on one page. Kuna quickly turned to the next and found the scene had changed to show a forest, the trees blowing in an imaginary wind.</p><p>“They’re beautiful, aren’t they?” Loki asked.</p><p>She nodded.</p><p>“Slaves were never allowed to touch books. Some Masters, like Master Machaluci, put magical spells on his books that blinded slaves that opened them and tried to read them.”</p><p>“That’s horrific, Kuna.” He took the corner of the book and pointed at the page. “These were stories that my mother read to me when I was a boy. These books have no magical spells on them. Besides the ones that make the pictures move, that is. You won’t go blind, I promise.”</p><p>Kuna looked back at the book. Loki turned the pages for her, showing her another image of a warrior fighting a giant blue monster with red eyes.</p><p>Loki huffed. “There are a few good ones in here, although, it’s been a long time since I’ve read any of these fairytales.”</p><p>“Will you read some to me?” Kuna asked.</p><p>Loki smirked at her. “Sure.”</p><p>She settled in close to him. He read her stories of warriors and great battles, kings and queens, monsters and magic, and even of dragons. Those were her favorite. She stared at the beautiful pages as Loki read aloud, changing voices with the characters, and acting out their movements with his hands. Kuna had never heard such lovely and enchanting stories. They sent her mind on adventures through vast imaginary landscapes, fighting trolls and bandits, rescuing villages and saving kingdoms.</p><p>Loki wasn’t sure when she had fallen asleep, but he looked down at her, showing her one of the images on the page, and her head gently fell against his arm, her eyes closed, a soft smile on her lips. He smiled, slowly closing the book. Gently, he picked her up and carried her to her bedroll, tucking her in with her toys.</p><p>Returning to his books, Loki quickly lost track of time. The books on curses were dense and often difficult to understand. Their archaic, long-winded musings on the morality of curses or the history of their terrible deeds were of no use to him. He needed to know how to lift them. And to know that, he needed to know how to cast them. He tossed one book aside and picked up another, furiously thumbing through its pages, skimming the text for anything that would help him.</p><p>He grumbled to himself as he finished another book and tossed it onto the pile. He ran his fingers through his hair. Letting out a frustrated sigh, he looked over at Kuna asleep on the floor. He groaned and put his head in his hands. They had practically ransacked Odin’s library for books on curses; there had to be something that they had stolen that was of use. That fat, old man did not keep these books locked away because they were strict, moral teachings. He knew how to use dark magic and kept it to himself.</p><p>He picked up another book and began reading. There were many spellbooks among his new collection, containing spells he had never seen before. Spells that doused the victim in an acid-like substance that burned their skin and spells that caused bad luck. While these spells seemed deliciously wicked to him, they were far from the curses he was searching for. He set these books aside for further study.</p><p>Loki continued reading until the morning light began to shine against the opaque walls of the tent. He hardly noticed; his nose buried into a book about a sorcerer who had been banished out of time for use of curses with the use of one of the infinity stones. He was surprised to see mention of the stones, but ancient Asgardians had been rather fascinated by them.</p><p>“Loki?” Kuna’s asked.</p><p>“Mmm?”</p><p>“Have you been up all night?”</p><p>“Mmm-yes,” Loki mumbled.</p><p>“Aren’t you tired?”</p><p>“I’m fine, thank you.” He glanced up. “Oh, if you’re hungry,” -he conjured a pile of their supplies on the floor- “take whatever you like.”</p><p>“Anything?”</p><p>“Anything.”</p><p>“Thank you, Loki,” Kuna said, graciously. She picked up some fruit and bread. “Can I go outside?”</p><p>“Yes, sure. Just don’t go far.”</p><p>“Okay.” Kuna walked outside, turning back to look at Loki before walking out the door.</p><p>Book after book Loki read through and still he could find nothing of real value beyond anecdotal evidence of curses or didactic discourses on curses. He finally decided to take a break and stood, popping his back and walking outside to find Kuna.</p><p>The sun was hanging low in the sky now.</p><p>“Shit! Is it that late already!” Loki looked around for Kuna but could not see her. “Kuna?”</p><p>There was no answer. He called again but all he could hear was the wind through the leaves. He looked around at the trees, searching the branches for her. When he did not see her, he set off into the forest to find her. With a wave of his hand, he cast a spell on the ground to illuminate her footprints.</p><p>Tiny footprints glowed green on the ground in a twisting and turning about all around the tent and their little camp. Loki could see the prints exiting the tent were dimming while a trail of prints that led into the woods shown brighter than the ones around him.</p><p>“I told you not to go far,” he grumbled as he followed after them. “Now you’ve probably been eaten by some monster. I knew this planet couldn’t be lifeless. What was I thinking?”</p><p>He stomped through the brush, following Kuna’s tracks. She had wondered here and there, stopping occasionally to admire a flower or rock. Then the prints went up a tree.</p><p>“Great,” Loki huffed, finding himself increasingly annoyed by his new ward. He looked around to see where she may have come down again and picked up the trail on another tree she had leapt to. He followed them as she jumped from tree to tree, but they were becoming harder and hard to see.</p><p>He stopped and called for her again to no answer. The forest was still save for the occasional falling leaf. The lack of birdsong or crunch of undergrowth from small animals felt eerie to Loki. He looked around and realized he’d lost Kuna’s trail completely. He studied the trees but could no longer find the green glowing footprints. He was not amused. “Kuna? Where are you?” he called. “Please, don’t be dead.”</p><p>He cast the spell again hoping it would reilluminate the lost trail but there was no trace that he could see. He was going to start retracing his own steps to where he lost the trail when he heard Kuna’s voice in the distance.</p><p>“Hyah!”</p><p>A yelp echoed through the trees. Loki tore off in her direction, conjuring knives in his hands, ready to slay the unseen beast attacking her. He could see a clearing in front of him. He slowed, crouching in the shadows, and peeked through an opening in the brush.</p><p>Kuna stood in front of what was left of a long dead tree, a long stick in her hands. Loki searched the clearing for her assailant but found no one, just Kuna and the tree. The upper branches had long broken away, leaving only the hollowed trunk behind barely standing on its rotted stump, the tree stood only a few feet taller than Loki now; a fraction of its once great height.</p><p>Kuna squared up with the tree and swung her stick at the trunk, letting out a grunt with the effort. The sound reverberated through the woods. Pieces of bark rained down on Kuna. She swiped at them with her hands.</p><p>“The woodland troll threw boulders, but the hero’s shiny armor protected her!” Kuna narrated.</p><p>Loki smiled and tried to stifle his laughter from the bushes as he watched.</p><p>“Your boulders are no match for my sword!” Kuna swung again at the tree and it wobbled with the blow.</p><p>“Hyah!” she stabbed at tree as it wobbled back and it creaked and fell backwards with a crash. She leapt on top and plunged her sword through an old animal’s nest in the trunk.</p><p>“You’re defeated, woodland troll! You can’t hurt the village anymore!”</p><p>“Oh dear, what have I done?” Loki mused from his hiding place. “I’ve raised a hero.”</p><p>Kuna stood triumphantly on the fallen tree with her back to Loki. He took his chance and crept out silently from the bushes. He stalked her without making a noise. A wicked smile grew on his face with each step.</p><p>“A hero?” he said, laughing evilly. “A hero who’s wandered too far from home.”</p><p>Kuna jumped and fell off of her fallen foe. She turned over and grabbed her stick. She gasped. “The sorcerer!”</p><p>Raising her stick to swing at him, Loki made an elegant swipe with his knife, cutting the stick in half. It dangled by a thread in front of Kuna’s face. She gulped and looked up into Loki’s smiling face.</p><p>“Ahh!” She flung the broken stick at him and ran off into the woods. “Run away!”</p><p>“Hey!” Loki swatted the weapon aside. “You get back here!” He chased after her back into the underbrush. “Heroes don’t run away!”</p><p>Branches and vines smacked him in the face and caught in his hair as he ran. He quickly lost sight of tiny Kuna in the bushes and plants. He stopped and listened. Silence had fallen again. She was hiding. His ears listened for any trace of movement. He heard nothing. She was good.</p><p>“Yaaaahh!” Kuna jumped out of a branch above Loki’s head. He stepped out of the way and she flopped into a pile of leaves on the ground.</p><p>“You were doing well until just then,” he said, leaning over her. “The key to an air assassination is not giving away your position by screaming like a howler monkey.”</p><p>She groaned.</p><p>He picked her up and flung her over his shoulder. “Now, the poor hero’s been kidnapped by the evil sorcerer.”  He started walking back towards the tent with her draped over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “I’m taking you back to my evil lair. Whatever will the hero do now?”</p><p>“Stab!” Kuna jabbed Loki in the back with a broken stick.</p><p>“Yeee!” Loki yelped and let go of her. She jumped out of his hold and took off again. Loki watched her disappear through the ferns, cackling as she ran. “She really is my kid.”</p><p>He walked along, listening for her once more. He had nearly returned to the tent when her felt her presence behind a tree. She was breathing hard and trying not to laugh. He smiled and walked on. He created a clone that continued down the path. He crept around the other side of the tree and grabbed her.</p><p>“Raaaar!” he growled.</p><p>“Ahh! Cheater!” she cried. She fell backwards. “How did you know where I was?”</p><p>“Mouth-breather,” Loki taunted her. He picked her up by the ankle and carried her upside down back to the tent.</p><p>She giggled the whole way, swinging back and forth, trying to stab him with her broken twig.</p><p>“I think I’ll turn you into a frog,” he said.</p><p>“No!” she cried.</p><p>“Or maybe a mouse. They’re very quiet.”</p><p>“No! I don’t wanna be a mouse!”</p><p>“Or how about a homing pigeon. That way you won’t get lost.”</p><p>“I wasn’t lost,” she said.</p><p>“Well, you sure did wander far. Look how late it is!”</p><p>“Sorry,” she said. “Are you still going to turn me into a frog?”</p><p>“Nah,” Loki said, setting her down. “Just don’t do that to me. I thought you’d been eaten or something.”</p><p>“Stab!” Kuna jabbed him again, this time in the thigh.</p><p>“You little bilgesnipe!” he shouted.</p><p>“The villain let his guard down long enough for the hero to make her escape!” Kuna narrated. She jumped over a pile of books and rolled over her shoulder, leaping up and snatching her toys from her bedroll. “She rescues her friends from his evil lair and saves the day!”</p><p>“Sure, sure,” he grumbled, rubbing the sore spot on his thigh. “Saves the day.”</p><p>He sat down between the piles of books and found one of the ones he had been reading. Kuna bounced around the tent with her toys. She grabbed some food from the pile on the floor and stuffed it in her mouth. She stopped abruptly and looked at Loki. He was intently studying another book.</p><p>Darkness had settled on the tent again before Loki looked up. He had just realized how quiet Kuna had become. She was asleep on the floor, wrapped up in her blankets. Loki started to get up when his foot bumped an apple on the ground in front of him. He looked down. Kuna had made a small meal for him of fruit, bread, cheese, and dried meat with a cup of water from their supplies. He smiled and sat down again, picking up his meager meal and taking a bite of bread.</p><p>When Kuna woke the next morning, she glanced over at Loki’s bedroll, but it was empty. She frowned at it and turned over. Loki was sitting up against the wall of the tent, legs crossed with a book in his lap. His chin drooped to his chest as he snoozed.</p><p>Kuna stood, picking up Loki’s blanket and marching over to him. She nudged the book off his lap with her stick and threw the blanket over him. She gently tucked the blanket around his shoulders and legs. Finally, she set her toys on his lap in case he needed them. They helped her sleep.</p><p>Picking up his cup and plate from the night before, she walked back over to their pile of supplies and began organizing it. When she was done, she looked around for more inside things to do. The tent smelled of old books and ink and slightly of mildew. She scrunched up her nose. Her Masters would not have liked the smell. Or the mess. Looking around, she could have sworn she did not take this many books at Odin’s study. </p><p>She walked through the stacks of books and found their golden storybook. She traced the ornate knots on the cover. She wondered if Loki would be mad at her if she peeked inside at the pretty pictures. She started to open the cover but then put it down.</p><p>Instead, she occupied her time counting the books in the big stacks scattered around the room. She counted one hundred and seventeen. Loki snored softly as Kuna began to tidy up the stacks of books, straightening them and pushing them to one side of the tent. She put them all in level stacks with the spines facing out, neatly aligned with the curve of the wall. </p><p>She stood back and looked at all the books and then got an idea. She pushed a few stacks in around Loki. She used the books like bricks, building up walls until it looked like there was a castle around him with just his head peeking out above and his legs sticking through the gates. Then she sat back and waited and waited and waited.</p><p>She heard a long sigh from within the castle walls. “Kuna,” Loki’s calm voice came from behind the walls of books.</p><p>Kuna covered her mouth, wheezing with laughter. She climbed up a stack of books and peeked over the walls at Loki. He still sat, wrapped in the blanket.</p><p>“What are you doing?” he asked.</p><p>“You’re the King of Books,” she said, not able to hide her laughter anymore.</p><p>“You’re damn right, I’m a king,” he said. He settled into his blanket, getting comfy. “This castle is rather draughty. I think it needs a roof.”</p><p>Kuna gasped and jumped down, grabbing her blanket and throwing it over the top of the book castle. She got down on all fours and crawled towards the entrance.</p><p>“Can I come in?” She poked Loki’s feet.</p><p>“What’s the password?”</p><p>“Um, please?”</p><p>“No.”</p><p>“Aw,” Kuna sat back. “Pretty please?”</p><p>“It doesn’t matter how pretty or ugly the please is: no.”</p><p>Kuna frowned. “But I wanna come in too.”</p><p>“What’s the password?”</p><p>Kuna grumbled. She thought for a long time. “Um, password?”</p><p>“All right, come in,” Loki said, pulling his feet inside.</p><p>“Yay!” Kuna crawled into the small space, over Loki’s legs settled down by his side. It was dark now that she’d tossed the blanket over their castle. Loki conjured a little orb of light that bobbed up to the top of the blanket and hovered there.</p><p>“Do you like your castle?” Kuna asked, giggling a little.</p><p>Loki glanced around and then chuckled. “I think we should have taken more books.”</p><p>They both laughed. Loki put his arm around Kuna and pulled her up onto his lap. She squealed with joy.</p><p>“You’re quite the little trickster, aren’t you?”</p><p>“Can I be the Princess of Books?”</p><p>“Obviously.”</p><p>“You fell asleep reading last night.”</p><p>“I did.”</p><p>“And you forgot to eat again.”</p><p>“I did. Thank you for making me dinner. I’ve been doing a lot of studying and time feels like it’s flying by.”</p><p>“What are you studying?” Kuna asked.</p><p>“Um, well, these are books about curses.”</p><p>Kuna gasped. “That’s angry magic.” She shuttered. “Why would you wanna read about that?”</p><p>“I’m just researching curses. You’re right, they are rather nasty. What do you know about them?”</p><p>She shook her head. “It’s the worst magic of all.”</p><p>“Hmm,” he said. “Do you think all magic is bad?”</p><p>Kuna thought about his question a moment. “Maybe not all magic. The magic the Masters use was given to them by the gods, but most of the time, they used it to hurt us.”</p><p>“Why is that, do you think?” Loki asked her.</p><p>“Because we were bad,” she pouted.</p><p>“I don’t think so.”</p><p>She looked up at him. “I think they used it to hurt you so you would never question them,” Loki continued. “So that you would never try to run or stand up to them. I think they used it to control you.”</p><p>Kuna looked down, staring at her hands.</p><p>“I also think they may have used a curse on you, Kuna, to control you even more.”</p><p>Kuna’s breath caught in her chest. She breathed hard and clenched her fists. She felt overwhelmed by emotion and shook her head to make it all go away.</p><p>“No,” she cried, tears forming in her eyes.</p><p>“Now, now,” Loki said, gently consoling her. “It’s all right. I’m going to fix it. That’s why we took all these books. That’s why I’ve been staying up all night studying them. I’m going to figure out a way to lift the curse on you.”</p><p>“Why… why did they put a curse on me?” she choked.</p><p>“I think they saw you as a threat.”</p><p>“But I’m not a threat. I’m tiny.”</p><p>“You defeated a troll yesterday and then you stabbed a god. Twice! Not to mention all your other feats of bravery. Don’t underestimate yourself, my little raven.”</p><p>“But I don’t… I don’t remember anything. I don’t remember anyone cursing me!”</p><p>“That’s the point, darling,” he said. “They wanted to keep it secret even from you so that you could not tell anyone. But I’m much smarter than they are. I’m going fix it, all right?”</p><p>Kuna was practically sobbing now, sucking in hard breaths and forcing them out with all her might. It hurt Loki to see her reaction. He pulled her close and hugged her. She cuddled into his chest.</p><p>“It’s going to be all right,” he told her and gave her a gentle kiss on the head.</p><p>“They’re evil.”</p><p>“Yes, they are. And we’ll defeat them together.”</p>
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